Legend of the Vampire Lords
by Apolloluver
Summary: The oldest vampires are the strongest, gaining power by the numbers of vampires they've changed and are linked to them forever. In America is a war between the remaining Vampire Lords fighting for power. When Bella Swan is changed by one of the strongest Lords, Edward Cullen, will she fight for him or turn on him for changing her to a monster?
1. Chapter 1

VAMPIRE LORDS

The oldest vampires are the strongest, the most powerful. They become so by each human they turn, by each life they take. Once a vampire has been turned they are forever linked to their turner till they die. Four of the original ten Vampire Kings and Queens have been killed off. Many of the vampire lords hold power in the northen parts of North American where they are less noticed. In the state of Washington is a war in the midst between the Vampire Lords. One of the strongest is known as Edward Cullen.

PROLOGUE

I've never known true pain till the moment I felt his mouth on my palm. I've never known true desire till I looked into the golden eyes of the man I tried escaping for five months. In my past I was nobody. I was Isabella Swan, daughter of Chief Swan and his wife Renee.

I never knew of the secret world of the Vampire Lords. And I never knew the secrets of the Cullen family. Especially not of their oldest son, Edward. Nor did I know of the Volturi, three of the remaining Vampire Kings, were out to kill the vampires who didn't rein with them. I didn't know many things.

That all changed the day I met the real Edward Cullen, when I was linked to him. Where I looked at him with equal disgust and awe. It was like you saw God and the Devil mixed into one. That's how I viewed Edward Cullen. But then again, many looked at him that way. He was a vampire lord. The blood son of a Vampire King. Making him all the more powerful.

And a powerful leader only leads to a powerful army of followers.

**Reviews would be appreciated. **


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER ONE**

Forks was a weird name for a town. I mean really, who names a town Forks? It sounds like a restaurant, "Forks". Okay, well maybe not a restaurant but you get my point. It was a strange name.

But the whole town was strange; the small population of 3,000 people was filled with freaks. Whether they were the clean freaks, food freaks, music freaks or just straight of creepy ass freaks, that's what we were.

I like to believe that my family was just sports freaks, or well my parents and little brother were. My dad, Chief of Police Charlie Swan was a college and major league football freak, when he wasn't out patrolling the small town you could find him in the living room watching television. My mother Renee was a different story, she was a hobby freak. And a baseball one, she spent most of her time in the kitchen coming up with ridiculous recipes of well, straight up disgusting food while taking peeks at the kitchen TV to watch her favorite minor league baseball player Phil Dwyer.

And then there was my brother, Collin. Seven years younger than my seventeen, Collin spent his time outside playing football in the mud with the neighborhood boys and creating a big fuss to my mom whenever he came inside after a long day looking like he'd been swimming in a swamp.

I always thought I was the most normal in the Swan family, I wasn't obsessed with something I was horrible at; didn't spend my days beside a TV, and didn't come home looking like a swamp monster. Instead I was quiet and reserved unlike everyone else. I preferred staying up in my room away from the chaos, reading, listening to music and spending my time on tumblr like any other average teenage girl.

I loved my family dearly though, without the persistent nagging of my mother to be more social with other girls, the whining of my brother whenever Renee fixed his cuts and wounds, or the loud yells of Charlie whenever he wasn't yelling, I wouldn't know what to do with myself.

Even if it weren't the best I wouldn't change it for the world.

My days in Forks always started the same, I would wakeup an hour exactly before school and spend ten minutes in bed dragging myself out and getting ready before driving to school in my old truck and spend the day with students I only halfway liked or didn't care to spend my time thinking on whether I liked them or not.

Today was different though, and not because it was the first day of the second semester. I could feel it in the damp air, something was… off.

It's humid outside, though it's nothing new. Rain always hangs heavy in the air like a blanket that never leaves, making it hard for girls who care about their appearance. Something that I rarely do, I'm just plain old Bella. My hair always hangs in the same waves it has since middle school and my eyes remain uncovered by makeup and brown. Normal. That's a world for everything in my life. Normal.

"Bella! Hey Bella wait up!" The voice calling me belongs to Mike Newton, an old friend of mine who since we were young has always had a crush on me. Its cute at times, but usually annoying.

He reminded me of one of those dogs who always brings you back a toy to throw, no matter how many times you throw it they go, receive it and bring it back to you waiting for you to play with them some more. It can be affectionate but after a while your throwing arm gets tired and you want to rip the toy in half.

That dog is Mike Newton.

"Hey Mike," I said, slowing down so he could catch up to me.

He smiles down at me like I'm his pet or something and inside it makes me disgusted, I keep a smile on my face though.

It isn't that Mike is ugly; he's far from it. He's tall, with blonde hair and brown eyes. Like a little Ken doll, all he needs is his Barbie. In fact, many girls at my school would swoon at his feet if he gave them the time of day, but they don't. Instead he spends his time chasing me, plain old Bella Swan. I doubt its because of my looks, rather its probably because I'm the cookie your mom tells you not to eat, you want it so bad but you cant have it. So you keep begging your mom over and over if you can have it but she keeps saying no.

"Excited about today? New classes, well class. I'm hoping we have the same science class. Its sad that we didn't have history this year. I was hoping we would because well…."

As he goes on I drain his voice out and take sight of my surroundings, not like its people I haven't seen before. Angela Webber is looking at Ben Cheney when she thinks no one is noticing, Jessica Stanley and Lauren Mallory are glaring at me from the sidewalk, wondering why Mike spends his time with me, and the Cullens- ah there's something to think about.

I said Forks was full of freaks, but these guys were unlike the other freaks. They were so normal it was mysterious; they were all from a big family. Their father, Carlisle Cullen was the son of a millionaire who has passed his money along to his four children, one of them being the Forks town doctor, Carlisle. The Cullens were known across Washington for being the richest and most elusive family; even my dad left them alone because well, they did nothing to raise much suspicion. They were just a good family, I mean, rich family with good looks and kids who didn't get into trouble didn't cause many to raise heads. Of course people talked, everyone did. But it was just about how strange they were, it wasn't about how the daughter got caught drinking or how the son was on steroids, it was just because they talked to no one and no one knew anything about them. And the fact that all five of them were adopted by Carlisle and his wife Esme didn't make it any less of a scandalous family.

There were five kids. They all came to school in a Volvo each day drove by the oldest one. There was Rosalie Hale, the blonde and gorgeous. She was the type of girl you'd expect to see on a Victoria Secret runway in angel wings with millions of guys watching from home with melting hearts. With her was Emmett, the tall and intimidating. He was at least 6'5 with dark hair that hung in curls on his head and dimples deep enough to hide things in. If Rosalie was Princess Aurora, then Alice Cullen was Snow White. Small, pale and hair as black as ebony, she was like a pixie. With sharp features and a smile that made you think she knew something you didn't. With Alice was Jasper Hale, Rosalie's blood twin. He was the tallest, with golden hair that made the sun dim and a face so impassive he could have been a poker star.

The fifth was the oldest, and also the most attractive. At least in my eyes. He looked younger than the others but according to Jessica was the oldest, it was also obvious with how he acted and was treated. The other four always seemed to follow them like he led them, like he was their father instead of Carlisle. His named was Edward. He was shorter than his brother, less bulky then Emmett but more muscled then Jasper. His hair was bronze like that of a penny and in a style that looked as if he rolled out of bed like that. His jawline was sharp enough to cut and though I had never been close enough to see his eyes, I had been told they were a deep shade of gold just like the actual gold his family probably had stored away somewhere.

"Bella? Are you listening?" Mike's voice cut into my thinking and I suddenly felt nothing but guilt, I was too focused on ogling a pretty face instead of listening to a good friend.

Oh well too late to lie now.

"I'm so sorry Mike, I dozed off. I didn't get much sleep last night and I've had a lot going on lately."

Mike frowned but nodded, thought I could tell he didn't believe me. "Its fine Bella, I understand." By now we were at the top of the stairs leading to the school and he gave a small wave before walking away to his first class.

_My _first class was English, in Forks when the semester changed so did our electives and science and or history class, but English stayed the same. So I spent the first hour of my day sitting beside Angela listening to our teacher drown on about Shakespeare-something I usually would appreciate- but I could help but be unsettled by the strange feeling in my stomach. It was like my mind was trying to warn me of something big about to happen but wouldn't tell me what.

The next half of the day dragged on until lunch where I sat with Angela, Jessica, Lauren and a few other people I didn't really care enough about to mention. Today I was extra quiet, twirling a bottle cap in my hand as Jessica and Lauren ranted about something that had happened in their science class earlier that day, apparently Mike was in theirs. Good for Jessica who had been obsessed with him since the day they met. Speaking of which I had science next.

"Bella, earth to Miss Swan, oh lord I think we've lost her again." Lauren noted, obviously annoyed at my aloofness.

"Huh?" I said, looking up and meeting her eyes. Which she rolled as soon as they met contact.

"Lauren was just asking if you're okay, Bella." Jessica said, too dumb to notice that nothing Lauren asked was sincere.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for asking." I said, giving Lauren a smile I hoped she understood was fake.

"I didn't know, I thought you were too busy thinking about your talk with Mike this morning." Lauren smirked, looking at Jessica. Obviously trying to make her mad.

I narrowed my eyes at her and shook my head, "Of course not. I have had no interest in Mike for as long as I've known him. Surely someone as _smart_ as you could understand that."

"Of course I do Bella," Lauren said, obviously getting mad. "I've always knew that."

Angela, unlike Jessica, could feel the tension and broke into a conversation about a test in a class she had with Lauren. Thankfully drawing the attention away from me for a minute, I made a mental note to thank Angela later for her good deed.

When the bell rang I dragged myself up from the table and trashed my half eaten apple and bottle of sweet tea before making my way to Chemistry, Mr. Banner's class. Room E19.

Inside the fan rang on, to my understanding Mr. Banner had a sweating problem and kept the fan running all day long despite the cold weather outside. Not many were in my class, seeing as this was advanced and the few people I associated with- other then Angela- were strictly in normal classes.

I surveyed the class while Mr. Banner gave us assigned seats, I recognized all the faces of course, I had lived here with them all for my whole life but instead of making small talk or asking how their parents were doing I stood silently in the corner waiting on Mr. Banner to tell me where to sit.

My table partner ended up not being there, though I had no idea who it was yet. Mr. Banner only told me not to get too comfortable sitting alone in that seat because it would be taken soon. Instead of asking questions I settled down and began removing items from my bookbag as Mr. Banner went over the agenda for the day.

About twenty minutes into class a knock on the door made Mr. Banner stop his lecture and open the door to let someone in. I bent down to grab my jacket from my bag-something that seemed to take forever to do since it was buried under math binders and old library books- and it wasn't until I sat back up did I realize that my table partner had arrived.

My first initial reaction was to run away, or perhaps go hide my face back into my book bag under the library books because I shouldn't be allowed to sit beside someone so magnificent. Beside me was a Cullen. And not just a Cullen but _the _Cullen.

My new table partner was Edward Cullen.

And judging from the look on his face, he was appalled by the way I was staring at him.

Wonderful.

**Reviews please. Let me now how you feel about this so far. **


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER TWO**

I looked away quickly, blushing at how foolish I must look. He was Edward Cullen after all, he was elusive. Mysterious. And completely off limits to me, I wasn't even close to his league. But then again, I knew of no girl who was. But why he was so appalled almost made me sad, surely he was used to girls fawning over her?

I tried listening to Mr. Banners lecture but I couldn't help shaking the uneasy and embarrassed feeling that catching eyesight with Edward Cullen had left me. His eyes were, indeed a deep shade of gold that went surprisingly well with his bronze colored hair. He was pale too, thought not disgustingly pale like me. He was pure white pale but pulled it off, he could be a snow prince. Pale and cold. Like winter itself.

"Take a few minutes to discuss where you and your partner will meet, you have ten minutes. I shouldn't give you this time, seeing as you teens have your communication devices. Facebook, ha! In my day…" Mr. Banner drowned on about Facebook while I sat stiff. We had to do what?

Meet with your partner… meet with my parenter…

I wanted to raise my hand and tell Mr. Banner something smart and completely true like, "Mr. Banner, I cant do that because my partner is a prince and I am a peasant and our classes don't mix." Or "Mr. Banner, if I have to spend time with this gorgeous specimen we call Edward Cullen I might just faint on spot and die because obviously, God has sent me an angel to take me to heaven." But I chose otherwise and kept my mouth shut. Instead starring at the wall behind my teacher's head. Beside me, I could swear I heard Edward sigh.

Great, he didn't want to do this either. Though his reasons were most likely nothing like mine.

Instead his words came out clean and crisp.

"I'm Edward Cullen, we should meet later in Port Angels so we can go ahead and get this out of the way. Okay?"

It took me a few seconds to comprehend his words and voice. How it was so musical, like he spoke to go along with a rhythm only he could hear. And his words… they were harsh. Going back to my 'he didn't want to meet with me' thoughts.

I couldn't be offended though, I mean I was. But why would anyone like him wish to meet someone like me?

I swallowed hard and turned my head slowly, I probably looked like a freak.

Nodding slowly I somehow managed in a small voice to reply.

"Sure."

His face remained impassive, though he looked slightly annoyed. He probably thought I was a mental freak too.

"Okay, do you know where _Twilight _is? It's a coffee shop. We should meet at six, if you don't have any other plans."

Somewhere inside me I hoped this was secretly a date he had planned out but I wasn't _that _dumb. But I knew where _Twilight_ was and agreed to meet him, trying not to look at him for a longer amount of time then what he would find comfortable.

At the end of class I was practically on my toes jumping out and down. When the bell rang and Edward Cullen left as fast as he had appeared in a swift motion of grace and elegance, I was left to slowly put my things back into my bag, pull my jacket over my shoulders and make my way back into the hallways of Forks High where I prepared for gym.

By the time I got home I was tongue tied for absolutely no reason. I was ... giddy. In the simplest of words, for no reason at all. Edward Cullen was a mystery like the novels I read so often, and with this trip to _Twilight _I hoped I would unravel him. I knew it was stupid, before today I had only admired Edwards handsome frame from afar and wondered how it would feel to be-to look like _that. _Amazing I guessed, I wasn't as much as a freak as I claimed to be.

Like any other girl, the thought of Edward Cullen made me as happy as a small child on Christmas morning.

As soon as I came bouncing into the house my mom took one look at me and knew something was up, she even stopped gazing belovedly into the at Phil Dwyer to question me. But I gave away no secrets, which I was sure I'd regret, my mother would pry it out of me eventually. But for now, I remained silent.

I spent the next hour in my room wondering what to wear. I didn't have many choices, I'd always been a jeans and T-shirt kind of girl. And then again, I didn't even have to look special. Why should I?

Even dolled up I was nothing close to a type of girl that would even look presentable beside Edward. And the way he'd looked at me today… like I was some Edward-obsessed freak. Which I guess by this point I was. For all I know I could be turning into Jessica Stanley and Edward could be my Mike Newton.

I eventually just put on skinny jeans, boots and a cardigan over a tank top. I put earrings on, little owl ones. And exchanged my usual chap stick for lipstick, grabbed my keys off my dresser and made my way downstairs.

"And just where are you going?" My mother asked, eyes narrowed suspiciously.

I sighed, eying the living room where she sat with Collin and my father. Of course they sat together when they knew I was hiding something, my family was nosy in its truest form. The motto of our house was "If one Swan knows, we all know."

"I have to meet with a friend for a science project," I said, nodding at my backpack I had slung over one shoulder.

"Sure you do." Collin said, puffing out his chest and turning to Charlie, "Dad, Bella's meeting a boy, Bella's meeting a boy,"

Charlie grunted in acknowledgment but otherwise made no attempt to talk to me. His motto was _"Let the wife deal with Bella's life"_. Something he constantly reminded everyone in the family.

"Be safe Bella." Renee said, still looking suspicious but a smirk appeared on her face. Making me roll my eyes as soon as my mom was out of sight.

She was just happy that I wasn't in the house reading or listening to music like I usually do, she always wanted me to be like her when she was a teen. And that involved dating random guys, gossiping with friends and spending all my money on clothes I would wear once then forget in the back of my closet.

The trip to Port Angeles was forty-five minutes, so I spent the time listening to whatever music I could find on my piece of crap radio and singing along whenever I caught along to the usually pointless lyrics.

I had been to Twilight twice before with Angela when we'd been at the Port Angeles bookstore just a few blocks away. It sat alone away from the strip mall and few restaurants that Port Angeles had to offer. It was still a comfy spot though; it was even better than Starbucks in Angela's opinion, built in a brick building with a huge fireplace and a latte that could do wonders.

I arrived twenty minutes early, spending the first five in my truck before I got curious. Behind Twilight I could spot a small trail leading into the woods. It seemed harmless and I had a few minutes to spare, so I jumped out of my truck and made my way over to the trail, surveying the flattened ground and recent footmarks, I began walking. Deeper and deeper and eventually came to two separate ways, one looked as innocent as the original trail. The other was dangerous and mysterious, like Edward.

I took the second trail. As I began walking deeper into the woods I began loosing track of time, not noticing that the sky above was getting darker and the air stiffer. It wasn't until I heard a distinct cracking sound that I stopped and noticed how far I had gone.

In shorter words, I was lost. The trail had stopped a while back and I had kept walking, unaware into the forest. Lost by its silent wildlife and green plants.

_Crack._

I stopped cold again, it sounded like someone had stepped onto a branch. And not something small like a doe or a squirrel, something bigger. Something heavier. Something… human.

That's when I began to panic. I quickly turned the way I had come and immediately began running; trying to remember everything Charlie had taught me as a child.

How could I have been so stupid? And to make matters worse my cell phone was in my car with my purse-which had my pepper spray and knife- wonderful.

The footsteps grew quicker, whatever-whoever it was, was chasing me. And coming fast. And unless my C average in gym class didn't give a hint I wasn't the most fast-or coordinated person. I was weak and vulnerable. I was Bella.

Suddenly the air seemed to grow colder than it had before and I could feel it-them behind my back. I went to scream but a feminine hand covered my mouth before I could. She turned me around to face her and I met pitch black eyes, like those of the devil. They were stone cold and hungry-like an animal. She was the predator and I was the prey she was out to eat. I knew she wasn't human, from her posture and appearance. No human could be that cruel.

She was cruelly beautiful, her skin so white it faintly reminded me of someone in the back of my panicked mind. Her hair was long and pitch black, like she used ink for shampoo, and as she opened her mouth and leaned her mouth towards me I saw fangs. I briefly was remembered of the book _Dracula._

_She's a vampire, _I thought.

_She's a vampire who's going to kill me. _

As soon as her mouth met my neck I was on fire, the slightest tip of her fangs slid into my skin and I was gone. It felt like I was being dipped into a pool of lava, like my body was the earth's core and lava was trying to explode out of me.

I saw a sudden movement behind her and she was gone, a scream echoed in my mind and I realized it was her death scream. The thing-the vampire that was going to kill me had been killed my something much more powerful. That didn't help my situation out at all.

All of a sudden I met a pair of familiar eyes, except they weren't gold. They were black, animalistic. But not with the same cruelty the woman's had.

It was he, Edward Cullen. The reason I was out in Port Angeles instead of at home, in bed reading. It was him why I was in the pain I was in now. And the look on his face told me he knew as much.

I could feel myself falling asleep as he spoke the last words I heard as a human, his soft, musical voice murmured softly yet pained.

"Forgive me, Isabella Swan."

**Reviews would be delighted. **


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTRE THREE

The burning continued to rage on inside of me. Eventually taking my body over as a whole until I no longer could focus on what was happening around me. Was I still lying on the forest ground? Was I with Edward? What was happening to me?

I had no idea how long I was there. But eventually after what seemed a thousand years the burning cooled, the loud humming in my ears ended and the immense pressure that had seemed to pin my body to the ground left.

And all that was left was me.

And the burn in my throat.

When I opened my eyes it was crisp. My vision was, I could see everything. Literally _everything._ And I could hear _everything _feel _everything _and smell _everything._

And one of those smells was appetizing.

In a flash I was out of my forest bed, ignoring my surroundings and followed the smell, some animal instinct had taken me over but I refused to care.

The smell was delicious, like nothing I had ever smelt before. It smelled warm, alive.

I was the predator and _he _was my prey.

The miles between him and I were quick to cover; they eventually led me towards a dark alley where a young man was cursing to himself, leaning against a brick wall. Trying to hold himself upright.

He was drunk, much so. His black hair was long and in a mess above his head, his deep-set eyes had dilated pupils, and if his blood hadn't smelled so good, the scent of liquor would of disgusted me.

It didn't take long for him to die. I didn't think much of it; I didn't even bother to see if anyone was watching. I killed him quickly, snapping his throat in a second.

I thought nothing of the lives I was ruining by this as I took his life, for as soon as he was dead the animal reared its ugly head again.

This time it lead me to a middle aged man who traveled deep into the woods hunting, and a woman coming home from work whose car had ran out of gas at the wrong time.

By the time I killed the woman my mind began to think of what I'd done.

Three lives. I had killed three people in less then an hour of being… this.

What was I?

_Vampire._

Something in my mind spoke the word and it fit. Yes, a vampire. That's what the girl had been; the one who'd tried killing me. And Edward…

I could remember the pain in his eyes as he put his mouth to my palm, ejecting me with some burning liquid I know believed to be his venom.

And I was disgusted.

_He _was the one who had done this to me. Changed me into this… this horrid beast. This monster.

I knew I couldn't go back to my family like this. No matter how much I missed them.

Inside my monster still growled and I knew that I would kill them if I returned.

But I knew it would also kill them inside if I didn't.

I couldn't punish my family by killing them, literally. So with all the strength I had inside of my body, the part of my mind that wasn't craving human blood, I ran back into the forest. Deeper and deeper till I was sure I wasn't in America anymore.

I ran until I was positive I was so far from civilization that no human would venture this deep into the untamed forests of Canada, I hoped and prayed to whatever there was in the sky above us that I wouldn't hurt another human for as long as my immortality let me live.

And I hoped I wouldn't fail.

Eventually I found a cave to stay in. It was damp and not very big, but it was high up in the mountains and close to animals big enough to quench my thirst.

As the months continued I only survived on animal blood, though it tasted nowhere as good as human blood did, it was enough for me. And didn't cause me to take another soul away from its family.

Over time I grew better, hikers had climbed on the rocks a few miles away and my resolve hadn't slipped, I stayed strong. I stayed true and as innocent as I possibly could.

While my will for goodness strengthened so did my want to see my family.

How were they? I know that none of them would cope with my death easily. Renee would have no one to call her daughter, my father would loose his little girl, and Collin would loose the big sister he'd adored since he was a baby.

And the more I missed them the more I despised Edward Cullen. I would rather he left me for dead, then like this.

If I was dead then I would've stayed in place, the police-possibly Charlie himself would of found me, and my family could have peace in knowing what happened to me.

But to my belief nothing was left at the scene I'd been changed at, nothing to indicate I was there. In fact, the only piece of possible evidence I'd been there was my truck.

Oh, I missed my truck too.

I hated Edward Cullen. He disgusted me. And now I was part of him.

At night, when I'd sit in the cave in my sorrows I could almost… feel him. It was like he was calling to me, his presence. I could almost hear his voice in my head.

But that was impossible, Edward Cullen had made me this and that was all. I had no other connection to him, no other reason to feel a pull towards the monster.

It was within one of these pulls that I noticed how ignorant humans truly are.

How ignorant I was.

The Cullens, the famous and elusive Cullen Clan of Washington State were all vampires. I knew because they shared the same pale skin that I now had-paler than my usual white- impossibly good looks that if I had not been so disgusted, I would had joyed at having. And we all moved with the same grace and elegant poise, even when I killed the three humans. It was beautiful. In a deadly way.

Eventually I began loosing track of the days, I was aware that I'd been gone for a few months. The school year would almost be over and summer was fast approaching, though that didn't mean much to Forks other than break.

Break also meant that more people would come hiking, would travel deep into the woods. Someone would stumble onto my cave and onto me, someone would see me hunt.

Someone would end up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Just like I did.

So I decided to leave my cave with only one thing in my mind.

To kill Edward Cullen and the clan of vampires he mingled with. So that he never ended a human life again.

So no one else had to be put into the misery you may call immortality.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FOUR

Some people say love and hate are like black and white.

Complete opposites.

Love in one thing.

Hate is another.

Love builds and hate destroys.

All love is good.

And all hate is bad.

Love makes you stronger.

And hate makes you weak.

I don't believe that.

The hate I had inside for Edward Cullen was remarkably strong, it's what made me travel through towns and forests on my way back to where it all began.

Forks.

I had a plan, to find him alone and kill you. I knew if he was with the other Cullen's that I stood no chance, especially not with the big one, Emmett.

But alone I possibly could.

I spent a day traveling, occasionally stopping at big cities and stealing money here and there, I managed to get clothes too. Nothing designer, but nothing Walmart brand.

The next sunset I was on the top of a mountain over looking Forks, the small town looked miniscule from here. But I knew every road, every fallen tree, the names of all the families living in the houses.

Forks was home whether I liked it or not.

My first instinct was too hide out in the forest till I caught his scent, his eyes were golden. Just like mine, meaning he and his family hunted off of animals.

Great. I was more like _them _then I wanted to be.

As I grew closer to Forks the pull to him grew stronger and stronger. It was like gravity, I was pretty sure I could find Edward without catching his scent with the pull.

By now I had discovered that it wasn't just my mind messing with me, I had a link to Edward. A link I didn't wish to have at all. Which is another reason why I wanted him dead.

If he was gone then I wouldn't feel connected to him anymore.

I was close to the river, I could hear it a few hundred feet away and around me animal life buzzed, but I was too restless to hunt. Too focused on my mission to kill Edward.

I was sure after his death I would have to run, to go far away from Forks and never come back.

There were six other members to the Cullen family and I knew they'd catch my scent and track me. But I was fast, hopefully faster then them.

And if they caught me and killed me then oh well. Maybe I wouldn't have to deal with this suffering as a monster anymore and could become … whatever it was vampires became after death.

An angel? Who knew.

I was so caught up in my planning for Edwards's demise I didn't noticed that someone was tracking me. Or a group of people for that matter.

It was five of them. Monsters like me, I didn't notice till _he_ stepped in front of me.

His face cautious, like he didn't know what to make of me.

I inwardly slapped myself for noticing his good looks, but even in the dark my vampire eyes could see what my old humans one could not.

Edward Cullen radiated with power. Like none of the vampires around him, who all seemed to be waiting on his call.

The pull towards him was even stronger than ever before, like I was being compelled to come to him.

He was dressed in dark jeans and a white button up, his black boots were muddy and didn't go at all with his otherwise prim and clean attire. His eyes glowed in the dark, like pits of amber honey. Something Winnie the Pooh would've loved him for I was sure.

His hair was still the same bronze color of a new penny and stood above his head like a halo. His skin still as white, just like mine, his jawline just a strong and nose just as straight.

He was like a fallen angel sent from above. Dangerous but angelic at the same time.

And his voice was all the same.

"Isabella."

It scared me. Deeply. The way he said my name like he'd said it a million times before. Like he knew me.

But that was crazy.

A monster like him couldn't know me. Nor would he ever.

Without thinking I spit back the first thought in my mind other than the way he spoke.

"If you're going to kill me, get it over with already."

Edward looked taken aback, like that was the last thing he expected me to say. His eyes gleamed with curiosity and he looked at the four people standing around me.

"Stand back. All of you."

It was the first time I actually looked at them but when I did, it wasn't the usual Alice, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper combination of Cullen's.

Jasper was there, he stood closest to Edward and looked like he would jump at me any minute. In my new eyesight I could see little bite marks all of his face and body, like he'd been attacked many times before. Somewhere in the back of my mind I wondered how many fights Jasper had been into.

The other three were new.

There was a taller blonde lady with a pretty face that reminded me of a Cherub if it hadn't been for her eyes, deep red. Like the vampire girl who had attacked me the day I was changed.

The other two were male and looked greatly alike, the oldest looking one was deeply tanned and had a beating heart. Human? It couldn't be. What would a human be doing with monsters like Edward? Something about his face looked familiar, and I could of sworn he smirked at me. Like he remembered me from somewhere.

But no, that was impossible. I was positive I'd never met him before, not even in my human life.

The younger had the same cropped black hair, beating heart and tanned skin. But he looked innocent and curious instead of cocky like the other. The two both were covered in tattoos on their chest and arm. Almost like they belonged in some gang. They were also shirtless, which, on the older one, was very distracting.

"Now Isabella, why on earth would I kill one of my own creations?" Edward said in a voice smooth as silk. It was almost as though he was leading me on, wanting me to pounce at him.

"You took my human life away from me, so I don't see why you cant take my vampire one away." I said, meeting his eyes. They were calm now, expectant. But other than that no emotion showed inside.

He nodded once, turning his face away to look at Jasper.

"Jasper, take Isabella back to the Center. I believe she needs to learn of our kind."

I hissed, not liking how he acted like he owned me.

"I will not go anywhere I do not wish to go." I said. I knew that if he really wanted to, Jasper could tote me off before I could complain again but he remained in his place. Looking back at Edward. What was with him?

What made Edward special enough to be looked at like a leader?

Speaking of Edward, he looked confused. Like he didn't know what to make of me.

"You… you do not wish to come with me?" I could've sworn his voice squeaked.

I shook my head, "I want to know of our kind. But I will not be took anywhere, I can handle myself quite well without tall and brooding," I looked at Jasper, "Taking me."

He remained staring at me a few moments before nodding again, "Very well. I shall join you two. Jacob, Seth, Tanya." He looked at the other three people standing with us.

"Go back to the house and let the others know what has happened, Alice will know by now I'm sure. But just incase."

They all nodded swiftly, though I'm sure the tall tanned boy (either Seth or Jacob) regarded me once more before dashing off into the woods with the other two.

Edward sighed once they were out of sight, closing his eyes for a few moments as if he was in deep thought.

"Very well," he said after a few moments silent, "Jasper lets escort Bella."

Jasper shot off in a direction with Edward so fast it left me no time to think just follow. We traveled higher up the mountains that surrounded Forks, more than once encountering sections of woods thicker and wilder than I had ever seen, so far back few animals even lived here.

Eventually we came to a ledge over looking the valley, giving a grand of Forks and the land stretched around it.

Behind the ledge was a cave. But not one like where I had lived the past five months. It was bigger, that much was noticeable from the entrance.

"Follow us," Edward said quietly, all I could do was nod as we made way into the long tunnel that was completely black. I wouldn't be shocked if there was a bat in here.

Ha, bats in a vampire cave. Maybe I could name one Dracula.

The deeper we got into the mountain the colder it got-not that it was very noticeable- but I could tell we were at least a mile away from the tunnel entrance Light began to show and the tunnel kept expanding and expanding till we came to a huge cave about as big as a football field.

High above the ground were trails and smaller caves, a huge fire lit the entire cave and radiated immense heat, it didn't look very appealing at all. Half of the cave ground was flattened out and that's where most of them were-more vampires. At least fifteen of them scattered around that one area fighting, though I saw none lying dead.

"You can have time to watch later," Edward said. His words interrupting my thoughts. "Follow me. We must go find Eleazar so he can… look at you."

I stopped dead in my tracks and glared at him, making him raise a perfect eyebrow.

"Who is Eleazar and what does he have to look at exactly?"

Edward sighed, almost looking annoyed. "Look at them." He said, pointing to where two vampires were fighting, I looked closer and noticed that one of them was moving water in his palm, creating it out of thin air.

I gasped.

"Exactly," Edward said, "I need to take you to see Eleazar to see if you can do anything like _that._"

"Oh." I mumbled, and reluctantly followed him along a series of trails until we got to the highest cave. A good seventy feet above the ground. The cave was small and cool, a blanket hung over the entrance that I guess was used for privacy.

Though it didn't do much, seeing as Edward simply swept the blanket to its side and walked in, barely bothering to hold the blanket away for me to enter.

Inside were two vampires, a woman who looked of Mexican descent and a man with oily skin and inky hair-who I guessed to be Eleazar- sat on the floor a foot apart from each other with their palms facing one another. Like they were meditating.

"Ah Edward and Miss Swan have visited us today Carmen." Eleazar said suddenly, standing in one fluid motion and bowed at Edward, confusing me once again.

Who was Edward and why was he so important?

Edward nodded once at Carmen who gave us a smile, like she knew something we didn't.

"Hm, yes." Eleazar said to no one in particular. I looked at the man to find his gold eyes on me, not in the interested way. But in a way that almost made me feel uneasy, there was something… off about his eyes. They had the same cloudy, far away look you see with blind people in humans. Though I had a feeling this man was nowhere close to being blind.

"A shield?" Edward asked out of nowhere, confusing me once more. What did he mean a shield and why did he all of a sudden say that?

"Yes," Eleazar said, a smile slowly appearing on his face. "A very strong one at that, stronger than the one of Aro's I imagine. You did a good job in changing this one my Lord, much potential in her."

"Wait," I said, I could practically feel myself going crazy. "Whats a shield and why did you call Edward 'your Lord'?"

Behind Eleazar, Carmer laughed, standing beside him suddenly and grasping his hand.

"Bella, a shield is a power." Edward began to explain slowly, like she was a dumb child who didn't understand anything. "It can block out other powers, depending on the shield it can either be emotional or physical, and Eleazar here believes you are a very strong one."

I took that in slowly, I was a vampire. Yes, I had been for a while. And I had a power. That was good.

But… a shield? Why couldn't I be like the vampire below who had control of the elements? What good was a shield? Was I like a vampire umbrella for rainy days?

"I know this is all very much for you child," Carmen spoke in a soft, soothing voice that almost managed to calm me. But really how could I?

I was on of them now. It was official.

I had a power, something humans don't have. Yeah, humans can have pale white skin and run fast, but a shield?

No human had that.

I really wasn't human anymore.

**Reviews would be nice and make me smile.**


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER FIVE

"Take her down to the floor my Lord," Eleazar said softly, regarding me with what I thought to be pity. "She is after all a newborn still, you changed her what? Not even half a year ago. She must be in shock with all that has happened lately."

Edward nodded and before I noticed it or could feel the embarrassment I was in his arms flying down the trail till we reached a large boulder type rock where he sat me down.

"You will be fine." He murmured, more to himself than me. "They always have a phase of shock when the truth hits."

I looked up at Edward and suddenly he seemed very old, maybe his body and face told a different tale but his eyes held wisdom. They had been around much longer than seventeen years. Which brought me back to an earlier thought.

"Why did they call you Lord?"

Edward tensed again, sighing he slowly sat down on the rock beside me and for a moment I almost didn't feel the disgust I usually had towards him. It had calmed down momentarily, though I didn't like it at all.

"A long time ago, before human recollect, the world was ruled by ten vampire kings and queens."

I laughed, he sounded ridiculous. I mean, if they once ruled us then it would be known. Someone would have written it in a book or something.

"I'm not joking Isabella, whether you believe it or not, this is all very true. Now I can continue and answer your question or you can go on being a dumb fool as usual."

As taken aback as I was I remained quiet and nodded, urging him on. Something about this suddenly didn't seem as fairytale.

"The ten of them ruled the humans and other vampires, each had an empire to control. Each had a duty. But over time, these vampires got greedy for power. The oldest, Thar grew more ambitious each day; he believed that since he was the oldest that he should be the strongest too. Eventually his words seeped into the minds of three others, known as the Volturi now. Aro, Marcus and Caius."

I vaguely remembered the name Aro from his earlier conversation.

"A war broke out, the four turned on the remained six, giving them a choice to surrender or be killed. But the six were stronger than the four, but many had leaned the same way as Thar and wanted independence. So a great war like never before broke out, Thar, Aro, Marcus and Caius formed one band, Ivet and Cyra in another, and the final one was Cato, Lyca, Luna and Juno. Thar and his band had gained enough strength by vampire followers and their numbers greatly outnumbered Cato and his clans, so as Thar was going to kill off those who followed Cato, Juno, the oldest sister sacrificed herself to the gods in order to save her brother and sisters. In the time that Juno's sacrifice was being made, Thar was killed leaving his followers weak and confused. Cato, Lyca and Luna killed them off but didn't manage to kill Aro, Marcus and Caius or maybe they couldn't kill their brothers." He paused for a second, seeming thoughtful.

"But afterwards the remaining split into groups and each became stronger, some slipped deep into the forest, some-like Lyca became a whole new race. For it was he who created the werewolves we now call our brothers. At the time of his death, Thar had a single daughter. One unlike him who was compassionate and peaceful, then known as Eumelia, Cato fell in love with his niece and the two became mates. From them came three sons that live to this day, Carlisle- the youngest, James-the middle and I- the oldest and strongest. That is why I am a vampire lord and the only one with power to challenge the Volturi, I have blood of two Vampire Kings in me."

"Wow…" I trailed off, not knowing what to say. "How old does that make you?"

He shrugged, "old. I was born around the time of Greece's rule if that means anything; James came a few hundred years after. Though no one hears much of him, and Carlisle I haven't a clue, nobody paid time any attention back then."

"That's… that's a lot to take in. What ever happened to your parents?"

His eyes faded and looked sad, he turned his head to look into the clearing. Obviously not comfortable.

"I'm sorry, I'm nosy. I shouldn't have asked…"

"It's fine Isabella." He said, looking back to me. "If I didn't tell you, you'd find out eventually."

Edward sighed, pinching his temple and looking at the stone beneath us.

"It's what started the war we have going on now, the death of my parents. The Volturi brothers got them when they were least expecting, when I wasn't around nor were my brothers. They killed their own brother and niece."

I could see him shaking now, but not with grief. With anger that I could tell had been stored inside for a millennia and had yet to get out.

"That's why we are at war, I am the oldest. Other than the few surviving Kings and Queens, Lyca still lives deep in the woods with the same original pack of wolves he created after the first war. His ancestors help me, and are here frequently. Though he rarely makes an appearance himself after his twin, Luna died a thousand years ago. Ivet still lives, along with Cyra. But they remain deep in the forests of unexplored lands, not wishing to be found. Tired of dealing with the Volturi's ignorance and greed."

"So we fight on, those who believe in the sacrifice of Juno and fight for her to keep the Volturi in place. Fights are becoming more and more common and eventually a war is going to take place. Like it did all those years ago, and I will kill them all. The same way they killed my parents."

The look in his eyes now burned, just like the fire on the ground. I could feel his power radiating off of him again, stronger than anything else I have ever felt.

I might be disgusted and horrified at what Edward made me but I knew one thing, Edward Cullen was not someone to mess with. He could probably melt me with just one flick of his hand and it wouldn't be anything to him.

After what seemed like forever, Edward turned to me and smiled. "Come Isabella, let me show you my home. Maybe you'll hate me less if you understand my family and those I have came to love."

All I could do was nod and follow him to the ground where more vampires had appeared; I could see all the Cullens now. The original ones I had known.

Alice was practically bouncing up and down beside Jasper who seemed less tense than he had earlier, Emmett and Rosalie stood side my side, a very intimidating couple indeed. And then there was Carlisle and Esme, the two I looked at to be Edwards parents but were actually much younger than him.

They were all grouped beside the flattened ground where even more were fighting, most were between vampires but I could see gigantic wolves too, like the ones Edward had mentioned. These must be the ancestors of Lyca.

I was standing by myself watching, a few minutes ago Edward had dismissed himself to go converse with his family or whatever he called them. I wonder to myself why they were the ones who lived in the Cullen house with Edward and not the other fifty vampires assembled here. I thought best not to ask.

"What are you thinking about little Swan?" a voice shook me from my thoughts and I looked up to see the tanned, tattooed boy from earlier, the bigger one. He was once again shirtless and the only clothing on him was khaki shorts, he stood at least a foot over me but I tried not to seem intimidated. He still seemed vaguely familiar.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" I asked, not able to help myself, which only made him smile widely.

"I'm shocked you don't remember, though I wasn't as lavishly handsome back then," he smirked. Making me roll my eyes, I didn't have time for this cocky guy act.

"Is that a yes?"

He nodded, I thought for a second a pained look crossed him face but it was gone swiftly.

"My father, Billy Black. You know him don't you? Of course you do, you're Charlie's kid. But anyways, we used to make mud pies when we were little." He grinned like it was some big accomplishment and my brain suddenly recognized him.

"You're Jacob." It wasn't a statement, she almost felt bad though. She had known him since her father thought she was old enough to go on fishing trips on Billy's boat. It stopped once Collin came along, but she had a faint memory of sitting on the bank with a small boy playing in the mud while their fathers tried (usually unsuccessfully) to catch fish in the river.

"You _do _remember me, I was almost hurt." He said in a pained voice that was obviously fake.

Bella had to smile at that, "Kind of, thought I think its mostly the smell."

Jacob laughed at that and turned to watch as one of the fighters made the other crumble on a ground with her touch, like it was an electric spark.

"Wow." Bella breathed, quietly then regretted it when she saw Jacob grinning.

"I know the feeling, I wish I could do stuff like that. All I can do is change into a wolf, I mean I'm stronger than most, but it still would be cool to zap people into an oblivion."

Bella raised an eyebrow, "Why are you stronger than most?"

He shrugged, "Because I'm a direct relative of Lyca. Just like with Vampire Lords, to be one you have to be blood related to one. Not just turned, that's why there are so few Lords left, heck, Edwards the strongest one. He's probably stronger than some of the actual kings with his heritage,"

"Wait, you mean to be a Lord you have to an ancestor? So you're like an Alpha?"

"Yup," Jacob said, "And yes, Cyra and Ivet had many children after they disappeared but few of them lasted long, in fact I'm pretty sure they only have four Lord with their direct blood, and none of them are that big of a threat. Lyca created the wolves, but he mated with many women. Like more than I'm pleased to admit, he probably has at least a hundred kids, all of them started packs of their own and that lead to me. He's my great times five grandfather, and he hasn't even sent me a birthday card. Some family."

My mind took a few moments to comprehend on this, "What about the others? I know Thar had Edwards mom, and Cato had Edward and his brothers, but what about the Volturi and the two that died?"

"The Volturi? Heck no. Do you think they'd have kids so they could be powerful and possibly destroy them? No. All their 'kids' are from their wives mistresses who went and had kids with other men. Who eventually got killed by the way, but the children stayed. The two with the most powerful are the children of Aro's wife, Jane and Alec. Aro's most prized possessions." Jacob shivered like a gust of cold air hit him.

"And the others?" I pressed on, hoping I wouldn't get yelled at for being nosy, but Jacob didn't seem to care.

"Luna and Juno- Luna died from depression, her only lover died in an accident. They had two kids who are Lords, but other than their kids they rarely make an appearance. And Juno? Who knows? She was the only one stronger then Thar, but she was secretive. Very secretive. Legends say that she had a child with an unknown man, a vampire of her own but not many know. I believe Cato did, and Lyca, and possibly Thar himself, which might have been why Juno sacrificed herself. All I know is that if she did have ancestors they'd never know it unless they tracked their family history back a couple thousands of years. If she did have a child she never showed her-or his face. Good choice too, if you ask me."

"Which I don't believe she did." A new voice entered the conversation and I turned to meet the cold eyes of Edward, obviously unhappy about something.

"Oh calm down _Lord." _Jacob said the world easier than everyone else, like he could care less about who Edward was or the power that rippled off of him, "I was just informing the newbee here about our past, seeing as she's one of us now."

"I see." Edward growled, grabbing me in a flash till I was by his side. "Now me and Isabella must take our leave, come." He pulled me hard- big mistake, I stayed put despite how much his pulling hurt me. Earning myself a shocked gaze from both Jacob and Edward, what had I done this time?

"She didn't move." Jacob breathed, looking at me in disbelief.

Edward's body heat up faster than a volcano, I could feel it. "Not that time." And yanked me again when I least expected, tugging me towards the tunnel once more and engulfing me into the darkness I could see through but still didn't like.

Here I was back with what disgusted me most.

**Reviews would be nice. **


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER SIX

"Come Isabella," Edward said once we were on the ledge again, about to run off into the forest. For a moment I was compelled to follow him. For a moment.

"No." I said, planting my feet on the ground and shaking my head, "I wont come with you. You can't order me around."

He sighed, "Isabella what is your problem this time? I am your Lord. You will do as I say."

"The only Lord I know of is God and despite your huge ego and vision that you're to be prayed on and looked up to, you are not him."

Above us the clouds got noticeably darker, "You ignorant girl, do you not realize who I am?"

"I know who you are." I growled, my vision getting tinged with red, "But that doesn't mean anything to me and I don't get why you think it does."

"Why you…" He trailed off but stopped as Alice and Jasper appeared beside us.

"Edward calm down," she spoke softly, "You stay here with Jasper and the others. I'll talk to Bella." She looked at me kindly, "If you don't mind of course."

I was momentarily shocked, they had manners?

"I would like that." I said, meeting her eyes. They like Edwards and Jaspers, were deep gold but held knowledge. Like Eleazars.

"Fine." Edward huffed, sparing me a last glance before going back into the tunnel, Jasper followed quickly. Leaving Alice and me alone.

"Finally," she murmured, "he can be such a fat head sometimes, it gets exhausting."

I said nothing. Just kept starring at her, no matter how nice she seemed she was still like Edward. Though I had respect for her, she didn't call him Lord or bow to him like everyone else.

"I know it will take you time to trust me, Bella- which I know you like to be called. But we're not as bad s you make us out to be."

I remained quiet, thinking of her words.

"Follow me if you wish." She said, before leaping off into the woods leaving me to follow her. She wasn't faster than me exactly, but she was elegant. She didn't run she pranced and leaped like a dancer, traveling through the thick forest like she was in a field of daisies.

Eventually we stopped at a bank of the river I'd never seen before, I could faintly see the Cullen mansion a few miles away, high and mighty. I'd never been this close to it though, I wondered what it was like inside.

Alice sat on a boulder a few feet away and patted the spot next to her. I politely shook my head and instead sat on the fallen log of a tree, not trying to notice the discomfort. Alice simply shrugged and began talking.

"I saw Edward and Jacob explain about our kind to you, that's my gift. Seeing the future if you hadn't been told that, which I know you haven't."

I stayed silent but inside I was disgruntled, she could see the future? What did she see in mine?

"If you have any questions just ask, Bella. I'm not as rude as Edward, or any of the others. In fact none of us are entirely too bad,"

I doubted that, but forced myself to speak for once.

"Why did he change me?"

Alice looked like she had expected this question, but a disturbed look stayed on her face like she didn't know what to say.

"He… he didn't want to. He had no plan on changing you, his only plan was to meet you and discuss your science project. But he was being foolish that day, and it's partially my fault too. I didn't see it coming; I didn't know that Sabine- that was the vampire- was going to be in the woods till it was too late. By the time I called Edward she was already on your trail."

"That still doesn't explain why."

She sighed, "He had no other choice Bella. He didn't want you to die like that, so he changed you. I don't know why, but he did. Usually we don't change people from this town because of the risk that they'd be seen as vampires. Other than the wolves," she paused, wrinkling her nose at their mention, "We haven't had any new members join us in fifty years, Edward doesn't change many. He doesn't like taking human lives, I guess he just felt something special towards you."

"Wait, you make it sound like Edwards the only one who can changes humans?"

"No," Alice shook her head, "But he does it the safest. Lords are usually the only ones who do, so mostly him and Carlisle. If a second rank-that's someone who isn't changed by a Lord- changes someone its dangerous. Their poison is weak and instead of changing, can leave them in a painful death."

"So that's why so many vampires are in the cave? Because Edward changed them?"

"Yup," she said, popping the 'p'. "Once a Lord has changed a human they're forever linked, the Lord can pretty much make them do what he wants if he wishes. But usually Edward lets us have our own free will. But when he wants us to do something, we do it. That's why you frustrate him so much, he cant read your mind nor can he order you like he can the rest of us."

"That's his power?" my voice squeaked, "He can read minds?"

The little pixie nodded, turning her body to face the river.

"There has never been a mind he cant read, at least not till he met you. Even as a human he couldn't hear your thoughts, that's possibly why he changed you instead of letting you die. You were-are unique."

"Eleazar said I was a shield."

"Indeed, a very strong one at that. Especially since Edward couldn't hear you as a _human. _That's almost unheard of."

I paused a few seconds, taking it all in. Did that make me a freak? That I was unique even among these monsters? I hoped not.

"Why does Edward need numbers? I mean he mentioned something about a war but…"

Alice nodded again, her eyes far away. "The second war, its said to be worse than the first. Imagine immortal, incredibly strong creatures battling each other and destroying everything in their path. That's the war, and this dates back a millennia. This is a war of revenge for Edward; he needs to do this to avenge his parents. It's the fuel in his fire, one that has dominated him since they died."

I almost felt pity for him. To be trapped in your own battle for thousands of years, to have your parents killed in cold blood.

I could almost relate to him. I'd lost my family too.

"I miss my parents." I murmured, thinking of my mom's eyes, dad's smile and Collins laugh.

Alice sighed, "At least you had a family. I'm not as old as the others, I was born in 1901 but that's mostly all I know. My family gave me up to an asylum where I stayed till Carlisle found me. I'd escaped you see…" she turned to look me in the eyes and suddenly I wasn't in current time. Everything was in faded colors but I could see what was going on around me. Where was I?

_A cold breeze hits my body and I'm shivering, lying on the cold ground. Too starved to continue moving. It's no use. I'm going to die out here; I'm too weak to have a vision, my throats too dry to cry for help. _

_I'm left for dead and no one is here to help me._

"_Miss, oh heavens." A gentlemen's voice calls to me from afar and my eyes make sense of what is around me. _

_He's beautiful, an angel has been sent from heaven to escort me home. He was a few years older than me in the face, but gentle yellow eyes told another story. Dressed in brown trousers and coat he scooped me gentle into his hands and I was grateful to not be on the ground, though he was still cold and hard. But I was too far-gone to notice._

"_Carlisle, she doesn't have much time!" a female voice says but I'm too weak to look and find her, I can feel myself dying in the hands of this cold angel._

_Dying… _

_And then I feel burned. So hot, far too hot to be heaven. _

_Wasn't I just freezing a minute ago?_

_Then the pain comes, it's like my body is on fire and I can't do anything about it. I try screaming but my mouth wont open, neither will my eyes. And I cant feel anything on my body other than the inside._

_The pains too great, too strong. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe instead of heaven, I'm going to hell._

_It would make sense for the pain._

_It was that greater than the shocks the asylum gave me, much greater and fiercer. Like being hit with lightning over and over._

_And it keeps getting worse for hours it seems. Or maybe minutes, it's too frustrating trying to keep track. And I want to cry but I cant, and my insides suddenly feel solid._

_Its like a million rocks are now inside my body holding me down._

_It keeps getting hotter and hotter. The pain is excruciating. _

_Then suddenly it stops._

_I'm cool now. The heat just went away within a second. I'm floating, in my head I see my mother who died, the only one to believe me. My sister who didn't know what to make of me. And my father, the man to put me in the asylum in the first place._

_Then I open my eyes and see light._

I gasp, like a fish out of water. And its like I can breathe again. I'm sitting on the branch, facing Alice who is looking at me stunned. And it all clicks.

That was Alice's past, her vision of being changed.

"Bella… what just happened?" Alice's voice in on a line between worry and amazement.

"You." I breathed, "I saw you."


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER SEVEN

"This isn't good." Alice said after a few moments of staring at me. "This isn't good at all, you're a shield. No regular vampire has multiple powers and what you did. That's not even normal by Vampire _Lord _standards. The only one to ever have that ability was… was… but that's impossible."

Alice looked stressed; pulling at her hair with force that I'm sure wasn't healthy.

The next second she was beside me, tugging on me frantically urging me to follow her. "Come on Bella, fast. We need to speak to Edward and Carlisle, I did not see this coming."

Instead of arguing with her, I just followed Alice as she ran an opposite way of the cave, instead she ran towards where the tree's thinned out and the big, white Cullen mansion came into view.

I took it all in very fast, in the middle of a small clearing was a house my mother would of fawned over. It was five stories, painted white, and looked like the typical American home... in the 1900's.

A huge wrap-around porch was on the second story and a garage the size of the Swan house was situated a few meters away, leading off into the woods was a long, twisting driveway.

I suddenly noticed why I'd never seen the Cullen house before when I was driving.

Alice swooped around the house to the front porch, crossing the ten stairs leading upwards in a second and spared no time waiting on me to hold open the door. Instead letting me slip in on the last second and step into the Cullen home.

The inside was just as amazing as the outside.

The wooden floors spread far on the open floor plan, an entire wall was glass, floor-to-ceiling windows letting in mass amounts of light and a surprisingly good view of the river. The living room was grand and the colors neutral and modern. An uplift close to the wall held a piano, I curiously wondered which one of these monsters played.

Alice walked right in, leaving me to follow once more. We traveled to the other side of the room into a doorway leading to a huge (but obviously rarely used) dinning room where the original Cullen's –along with Eleazar and Jacob- sat in seats leaving two open. Obviously reserved for Alice and me.

Carlisle Cullen sat on one side of the table and Edward Cullen sat on the opposite, seeing them it was easier to imagine them as brothers rather than father and son. They each had a almost royal look to them, they were the type of brother you'd see in thrones as Princes ruling over countries or perhaps modeling for a Calvin Klein magazine.

"Ah, Isabella." Carlisle said, giving me a gentle look. I remembered him from when I was a human and Collin would have a monthly trip to the doctor for whatever reasons, whether a sprain or a break. Carlisle would always take great care of him and send him back like he was brand new.

But he was still a monster whose older brother had changed me into a monster too.

I sat down between Esme and Alice, seeing as they were the two I wasn't on end about. Especially now that I had seen Alice's past.

It almost reminded me of my own.

"It seems we have much to talk about, Isabella would you like to explain to us what you saw when you looked into Alice's eyes?"

All eyes turned on me. Mostly gold and a single pair of dark brown ones that belonged to Jacob. Esme squeezed my hand for support. For some reason I didn't knock it away.

"I saw her past- or what I believe to be her past." I said, trying to look anywhere but Carlisle eyes.

"Ah." He said smoothly, looking as if he was in deep thought.

"Anything else?" Edward suddenly said, looking inpatient, "We mean specifics. What was happening, who was in it? Anything like that?"

I kept a growl in, deciding not to look into his eyes-which I could practically feel burning a whole in my back. Instead I looked at Jacob, taking comfort in eyes that had been that color their whole life. Or existence. Since vampires weren't technically living.

Or were they?

"I saw- I was Alice. She was lying in the forest after trying to escape but was too weak to continue, dying. She was dying. Then she saw Carlisle... and he changed her. I felt that too, the pain of the change. But then she opened her eyes finally. And that's the last part I saw."

I nervously played with my hands, trying to get the center of attention off of me even though I knew it was hopeless. I didn't like them. Any of them. Well maybe Alice but she wasn't as bad as the others, well Edward.

"Interesting." Carlisle said more to himself then to anyone else, "I haven't seen a power like this since Juno. And that was millennia ago… but she's the only known vampire ever to be able to glance at someone's past memories."

"But how is that?" Edward asked, his voice raising. "All the Kings and Queens had original powers that unless someone is from their bloodline, the vampire cannot hold."

"Exactly, and only Vampire Lords can have more than a single power." Jasper added on, finally speaking. He had a southern accent that I found calming.

"Exactly." Edward said, turning to Carlisle, as if he was looking for advice.

"It can only mean one thing," the blonde vampire said. "Juno had to of had a child, Isabella must be a descendant of Juno."

**Short but straight to the point.**

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	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER EIGHT

The whole room was quiet for a few seconds before Edward began laughing uncontrollably.

"You think she's a descendant of Juno? Brother are you out of your mind? She's wild, impulsive and weak minded. Juno… nobody with Juno's blood would be any of that." He said, still trying to calm himself.

Meanwhile I was shaking in my seat.

"How _dare _you." I accuse, standing up so I didn't break Esme's chair, "You know nothing of me, nor have you ever. You _Lord Edward_, you are supposed to be someone people can look up to and trust but you are none of those things. You're arrogant and cocky and…"

"Watch your mouth new born." Rosalie suddenly hissed, jumping out of her own seat and growled, "You know nothing of Edward either."

"I know his personality is not one that should be looked up to." I replied, baring my teeth on instinct to her.

"Calm down, all of you." Esme said suddenly, her and Alice both grabbing my wrists as if to steady me. But something told me that I could escape from them both if I wanted too.

"Indeed, please listen to my wife." Carlisle said, voice strained. "This is not a time to start a war within ourselves, we have a war going on outside of home already. Inside needs to stay peaceful."

"Home?" I snorted, yanking my arms away from Esme and Alice, "This is no home to me. I came for answers." I lied, hoping no one would know I had truly came in hopes of ending Edwards life.

"And we wish to help you answer them, Bella." Jacob suddenly joined the conversation. "If Charlie and Renee were aware of the situation they'd be on this side of the war, you know how much they both respected Carlisle." He said softly, glancing at the doctor, "And how much they respected freedom of choice."

"Something the Volturi doesn't want us to have," Esme said, reaching for my hand again. This time I let her take it into her own.

"This… this isn't my war." I said, starring down at the table. "I know nothing of the Volturi or this Juno you speak of other than what I have been told. This isn't my battle to fight, I am all for freedom and peace. But they've done nothing to me to earn my disliking."

"That's what you don't get." Edward growled, "My mother and father didn't wish to fight either, they wanted peace after the first war. But Aro and his brothers wouldn't allow it, this is far more than old revenge. This is for power; you think Aro would stop with just us? No. There are more vampires out there hiding from the Volturi. Aro follows in Thar's footsteps, and his illegitimate children Jane and Alec grow stronger each day. Lyca doesn't show his face, but eventually the Volturi will go after him too." He added, making Jacob growl. "Ivet and Cyra are useless now, nobody ever hears from them. They believe hiding from Aro will save them, they are wrong. Their Lord children don't do much either, Ivet's three sons all seduce human women and leave them pregnant, and Cyra's daughter has a small group but none big enough to fight. They do nothing, absolutely nothing. And then there's us, the only ones who fight for others who don't care and loose our lives for it. Do you not get how tiring it is?" Edward screeched, letting out a deep breath and squeezing his temple.

The room remained quiet as he tried to regain his composure.

"My point is," Edward said in a strained voice, "if you leave Bella it wont do anything but just give you more time, the Volturi want power over us all. And eventually that will stretch to the humans to and he'll have them as slaves. Do you want that Bella?"

I didn't. I didn't care about Edward-or at least I tried telling myself that.

But something told me I could trust the other Cullens- even Rosalie who obviously didn't favor me much. Something about their family made me remember my own, and I didn't want their family torn apart any more like my own had.

"Fine." I agreed, "I will fight with you against the Volturi."

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**This isn't my best but it was needed.**

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	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER NINE

"Very well." Jasper said suddenly, giving me a strange look like he didn't understand me.

That made two of us.

I didn't understand myself.

"We must find out about Juno and how you two are connected," Carlisle said, "My mother knew Juno very well despite who her father was… but she didn't know her as well as my father and Lyca did," he gave a glance at Jacob who had a curious look on his face, obviously confused.

"We need to find Lyca and see if Juno had a secret lover no one knew about, someone she wouldn't let anyone know about." Esme said, squeezing my hand tighter.

"No." Jacob said, shaking his head. "Nobody knows where he lies except the elders, and nobody can get that out of him."

"Edward can!" Alice said, unlike everyone else's somber mood she looked excited, practically jumping in her seat.

"No I can't, nor would I." Edward said, narrowing his gold eyes at his family. "If she is going to fight with us then she needs to begin training, Alice you've seen they all leave Italy in a month, and this time it isn't just the warriors it's Alec and Jane and the original three. We have no time to spend wasting on assumptions." He growled.

"Brother please," Carlisle said, suddenly looking annoyed, "We have to follow this. You know you want too."

"I want to finish off the Volturi Carlisle, for our mother and father who died at their feet. For Juno herself who sacrificed her life for us. If it is that important to _Isabella_," he spat my name, "Then after the war- if we still walk this earth with freedom I will help her find out, but till then. I am doing nothing but training."

"You're so frustrating!" Jacob yelled, shaking slightly and making the entire dining room shake with him-if the tension hadn't been so high, Esme would be flipping out. "All she wants is answers! Isn't that what you've always wanted Edward? But you never got it, now you're taking her knowledge from her because of this war that's been going on since before any of us were born. You may lead us but you are no leader to me."

And that was it, Edward snapped. He leapt himself over the table at Jacob in a dashing speed and was on top of-a wolf?

In the few seconds Jacob's clothes had ripped off and now he was a huge, russet wolf. Growling fiercely beneath the vampire.

It took less then a second for Jacob to be knocking against the table, splitting it in the half that he hit. He growled once more but Edward was on him again in speed I had never seen before, faster than anything my eyes had ever laid eyes on.

Then Emmett and Carlisle got involved, Emmett pulling the huge wolf out of Edwards grasp and Carlisle jumping on his brother's back and slamming him into the floor. Making the chandelier above quiver.

In a matter of seconds Jacob was out the door and I heard the door slam loudly and could make out the voice of Emmett as he tried to calm Jacob down while Carlisle was struggling with Edward. Still on the floor, he didn't release him till Emmett's voice and Jacobs's growls became softer and eventually unable to hear.

"Calm down brother, peace remember? We must have peace before the fight." Carlisle said, backing away from Edward with hands raised.

_Lord_ Edward himself nodded, though his eyes still held aggression that would of scarred anyone else, but it suctioned me in. Making me lock eyes with him for a few seconds, a deathly stare in his own till they became wider and he lowered his face to the ground. He almost looked ashamed.

"I am sorry brother, I just… my temper got a hold of me and I didn't think to control myself."

Alice sighed, her happiness from earlier gone and now she just looked disappointed.

"Everything will end in ruins if we continue this way, I can see it."

Esme gasped, reaching for Alice and pulling her into a warm, motherly hug. "Don't say that Alice, we must always have hope or we shall fail."

Alice laughed grimly, looking at Edward for a few seconds then me. Her eyes huge and far away, "We will if they cannot find a common ground."

"Shutup Alice," Edward growled, giving her a look that could petrify. Making Alice freeze up and stop moving, her golden eyes locked tightly on Edward. Like she was being controlled.

A second passed before she shook her head, her eyes moved again. Beside her Jasper growled.

"Edward stop," he growled, wrapping Alice in his arms, "you and your mind tricks only work on humans, leave Alice alone."

"Wait, what?" I whispered to Esme who just sighed, brushing her hair with a hand.

"Edward and Carlisle both have multiple powers, and one of Edwards is that he can compel humans into doing what he wishes. But just humans," she nodded at Alice, "he has no control over vampires."

"Oh." I said, my lips making a perfect oval as I looked at Edward.

"Come, Bella." Carlisle said, grabbing my hand and pulling me away from the dinning room, "You have much to learn, maybe much more than we imagined…"

~.~.~.~.~

"This is pointless," I said, feeling exhausted. A feeling I didn't know a vampire could have.

I'd been with Jacob and another vampire called Kate all day, learning things from fighting techniques to how to spread my "shield" and it was tiring.

Kate was one of the Denali's- the first three vampires Carlisle had ever created, Kate had told me the story. Or rather shown me when I'd looked into her eyes…

_Flames burned the city, cries still heard from dying people rang in my ears but I tried paying attention to my sisters instead. Tanya was the strongest, always facing dangers before we even heard of them. That was why she was our mothers' favorite. Irina was even more fragile then me, she stood on Tanya's other side shaking._

_Our mother had done the unthinkable, turned an immortal child. Something the Volturi opposed, something that would get our mother killed. _

_Thoughts ran in my mind as we walked down to the huge fire pit to face the Volturi. _

_Why had my mother had to change? My sisters and I were humans, but my mother ran off and got changed, then changed that baby whose name I didn't even know. Now our whole village was dead, so was my mother, and so was it._

"_Come forward you three." The vampire with long black hair said, beckoning us in a voice that was sweet like honey, though his deep red eyes held another story. Those eyes…._

_Tanya slowly walked ahead of us, her steps light and careful._

"_Please your grace, we wish you no harm. We are innocent, our mother-her plans were without the thought of the three of us." Tanya spoke softly, her voice quivering in a way that made Aro's eyes lit with joy. _

_He liked seeing us in pain. I thought, wishing I could have him dead and my mother alive._

"_She lies brother," the white haired one growled, "I can feel it. She is like our sisters, manipulative of Juno, quick thinking like Lyca and wicked like Cyra."_

"_Oh brother," Aro began, "We cannot be sure of this till we know the entire story."_

_I was confused, what did he mean?_

"_Come child." Aro said, nodding at Tanya who was now shaking in fear. The white haired one smiled wickedly at this._

"_I won't hurt you unless your intentions are not what you have said," he murmured quietly, his eyes locking with Tanya's as she stayed put, eventually he sighed. Almost seeming disappointed._

"_Very well. Jane."_

_From behind the ranks of dark cloaks and smoke came a vampire smaller than the rest, she was young too. Just a few years above grown, if I hadn't been about to die I would of accused Aro of changing an immortal child himself._

_The child reminded me of a cat, with huge eyes and curious face, but the color of her eyes ruined it. They were deep rubies, gleaming out and making Tanya shake even more._

_And shake she did._

_As she looked at Tanya my sister began to shake fiercely before falling to the ground in obvious pain, her face twisted into a gruesome look and body turned at an awkward position, her mouth was open as if she was going to scream but she made no sound. _

"_Tanya!" I screeched, flinging myself at my sister before another vampire stopped me, he was a young man obviously, but his age could have been eleven or twenty. You could never guess, but his dark hair and round eyes made it obvious, he was the brother of Jane. _

_Alec. And he was currently holding Irina and I back as Jane let Tanya bathe in her pain before Aro-after a painful couple of minutes- told Jane to stop and let Tanya breathe._

"_Now child, do you wish to re-consider?" Aro asked again, a slight smile on his face. Like we were old friends._

_Shaking, Tanya slowly got up and walked to Aro, gripping his hand tightly she looked sick. _

"_Ah." Aro said after a few moments, taking a step back from my sister and nodded. "I see now child, they are innocent."_

"_No!" Caius growled, his eyes gleaming. _

"_Brother please," Aro said, trying to calm the white haired vampire but Caius wasn't having it, in a few seconds Caius had jumped before Aro and sunk his teeth into Tanya's neck in a way that looked like he was kissing her, but that wasn't it at all. _

_I saw blood streaming from her neck before Caius was on Irina, doing the same to my sister and then turned his gleaming eyes on me, they were black with hunger, behind him my sisters gasped like fish needing water._

_And then he jumped on me and it all went black._

Kate had explained to me that after Carlisle, Edward and the missing brother James had found them. Apparently back then the brother had hunted for the Volturi, tracking their movements and making allies within the groups of people who had suffered demise from the Volturi.

Carlisle had found them all first and changed them as their blood still flowed from their neck, injecting their poison and creating three vampires who hated Aro almost as much as Edward did himself.

I heard screeching and realized that I'd failed again.

I was supposed to project my shield from myself to Jacob and protect him from Kate's power (a sharp, electric-like pain I'd been told) that could make you feel like you'd been struck by lightning or stepped on an eel.

"Bella!" Jacob moaned, rubbing his arm where he'd been shocked, "Come on now, you did it once for a second lets do it again before I have to amputate my arm."

I sighed, raking a hand through my dark hair.

"I'm sorry Jacob, I don't know what I'm doing."

Beside me Kate laughed lightly.

"Ugh. It's fine… let's go again I guess."

I tried-I truly did. I pushed my shield out like a bandaid and thought of it wrapping over Jacob like a shield. But it was more of a rubber band with too much tension; it wouldn't stretch far without bouncing back. Coming back into whatever "shield" I possessed and leaving Jacob to yelp in pain again as Kate shocked him once more.

"Okay," he said, wincing. "That's all I can take today, we can try again tomorrow. Or maybe you can get Emmett to help you-I hope- cause I might have border patrol." He looked at his singed arm again, "Yeah I defiantly have border patrol."

"No problem Jacob." Carlisle said, joining us. We were in a part of the cave, far away from anyone else to not interfere with other practicing.

"I was just about to ask Isabella to come with me for some, research…"

"What kind of research?" Kate asked, sounding disappointed that she was loosing me.

"Just a few things I think she might be interested in; come Bella." He called to me over his shoulder as he gracefully walked away from the practicing grounds and towards one of the steeper walls of the cave, standing high, I could make out a few caves on the walls which Kate had explained to me was the library, storage and the Temple of the Gods, a cave that stood higher than the others and was rarely visited.

Carlisle jumped from crevice to crevice in the wall, making it look like it wasn't a complete ninety-degree angle straight up, eventually we made it to the lowest cave that was lit by lights that had someone been hung from the wall.

I faintly wondered how long the electric plug would have to be to have lights.

"What are we looking for?" I asked once we reached the ledge, peering into the cave. It was bigger than Eleazars my much, and wasn't covered by books but instead scrolls that looked much older than anything I'd ever seen, too old to be seen in even the oldest of libraries dating my hundreds of years. These, these were the scrolls that held the beginning of human life itself. The beginning of religion and faith and the Aztecs and Romans. This was it.

I could tell why Kate had earlier said that unless invited by one of the Lords, you could not go up here without serious consequences. This information was too fragile to be touched with careless hands.

But here I was, in what was possibly the oldest library of all time, with Carlisle Cullen.

"We are looking for what everyone looks for child," he said gently, suddenly looking much older than his physical appearance usually led on to, "We are looking for answers."

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	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER TEN**

They started with the actual books, though I was positive Carlisle had read all the novels in the past, he still searched as hard as I did. His golden eyes squinted as he read page to page and face had the same disappointed look each time he came up without and knowledge of Juno.

She was the most unknown of all the Kings and Queens, I found out in my readings. Information on Thar, The Volturi, Cato, Lyca, and all the others were wealthy but Juno stayed unknown and rarely mentioned. When her name came up it was always the same story, _Juno the brave sacrificed herself for her kind. Juno gave her life to save the life's of others. _But nothing of her personal life was found in the novels, so we began searching in the scrolls.

I was beginning to get bored and agitated when I stumbled upon one scroll that was barely there, the ink smudged from water damage and the ends ripped and worn. But it was the only that held information of Juno other than her sacrifice.

_Juno the brave, was also secluded, unknown from other than her closest companion Caesar, who helped her breach the darkness with his own good, through the chaos that was her life Caesar was her glee and her wisdom as she sought comfort in his companionship he found the same in her._

"Carlisle," I called, looking over my shoulder at the blonde vampire who was buried in scrolls, "Come here please. I think I found something."

"What is it?" He was beside me in a flash, peering over my shoulder to read the scroll.

"Ahh, Caesar. Yes my father said he was closer to Juno than anyone."

"Is he still alive?" I asked, re-reading the script.

"I don't believe so," he said, scratching his chin. "After Juno sacrificed herself, it is rumored that he went off and got himself killed by an ally of Thar's. It was a shame, but my father said he couldn't bare the death of Juno, so he saw no reason to live."

"Were they… involved?"

Carlisle's eyes widened and he shook his head, "Oh no. Juno was never one to be interested in males-or anyone else for that matter, in that way. At least she never seemed too, she and Caesar were only the friends is what I have been told, and out of all people my father would know."

"Oh." I said, disappointed. Another clue to my relationship was thrown out the window and I was in the dark again. Wondering who I was and why I was so … _unique. _As I chose to claim myself as.

Carlisle sighed, "We can keep looking if you wish,"

"No Carlisle, you go on. I'll be fine here. I'm sure Esme is missing you and you have other things to do then worry of me."

"Are you sure Bella?" He asked worriedly, "It's not that much of a problem for me."

"I'll be fine Carlisle," I smiled politely at him, "Thank you for the help."

"No problem Bella," He smiled back, walking towards the cave entrance.

"Oh and Bella?" I looked back at him.

"Try not to go so hard on my brother… He isn't as bad as he may seem, he's a good leader to us all. He has just been stressed lately with the uproar of fights."

"How often is the fighting?"

"Often enough, we've lost three in the past few months and Edward feels the blame for himself,"

"Oh, I'm sorry." I said, truly sympathetic.

He just sighed, "It's fine. We will all miss them, but at least they're in peace."

"I'll remember what you said about Edward, he's just hard… at times." I said, trying to make myself sound polite.

He smiled grimly, "It's fine. I know it, just look for his positive instead of his bad."

I nodded and he left, leaving me alone in the cave to look among old scrolls and scripts.

Two hours later I was ready to give up, I'd read through most of the library and only five books remained, three of which were about werewolves, one that was on Thar and another didn't have a title, it was thick and dusty, like it hadn't been open in a thousand years.

I picked the one without the title.

It almost crumbled in my hands; the pages were frail and old. And the ink was red that reminded me of blood. It wasn't till I opened I page when I saw it was more of a diary than a book.

_And so the day goes by without change, the army still approaches and my brothers prepare for the biggest war of earths time. We are old yet young in our thoughts, compared to some we are younger than the fresh grass; to some we are older to the wilting tree down by the stream._

_If it's true I am fresh grass by the tree, with old roots and new stems. _

_My ways are old and my thoughts are new._

_I am cynical but peaceful._

_And my decisions are confusing to those who aren't my brothers but they make sense to those who understand._

_The oldest came to me today, "what are we doing brother?" he asked me, "we are doing what is right for us." I answered._

_The middle said, "but how do we know what's right for us?"_

_Because the gods have told us it is! I answered._

_The youngest said nothing, he never did. He followed in the pursuits and leadership of me._

_And that was it._

_Today is never changing._

I closed the book when I heard yelling from outside, slipping the crumbled, un-titled book between my waist and elbow.

Something about it compelled me.

Something about it didn't want to be stowed away in the back of a dusty library that was rarely visited.

Something about it wanted me to read it.

Whoever's diary it was.

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	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER ELEVEN

In the 'pit' (which is what Carlisle had called it) a wolf name Paul had torn off the arm of a vampire Victoria, a red head whose hair was so bright if you lit it on fire you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

I stood on the side watching, there was more vampires and wolves here than before, at least fifty of my kind and thirty of the wolves, Edward was there. Standing on a rock higher than the others, over looking the fighting going on in the spot below him.

I was watching a fight between a vampire named Zafrina and another name Maggie when Victoria slumped over towards me, sitting a few feet away and began adding her venom to her wound before placing the arm back over the spot it had been torn out of.

If I were a human, I would have been puking.

Victoria was pretty though, not Rosalie pretty in a model way, or Alice pretty in an eccentric light, but wild pretty. Her flame-colored hair was in a mess of curls in volume behind her small head, her eye brows were darker-more of a dark brown or a black, and her eyes were a light red unlike any other vampires I'd ever seen. I curiously wondered if she had a different diet than anyone else.

"You're the new one aren't you?" She asked me out of the blue, taking in my appearance.

"Yeah." I mumbled, feeling strange beside her. She gave off a strange feeling, an uneasy one. I wondered if she had a power of her own.

"Ah," she sighed, fixing her thick fur coat around her shoulders (her arm was back in place after it sizzling for a good minute or two) and looked curiously at me, like I was a puzzle she was trying to fix.

"I was discussing you with Rose the other day, you aren't her favorite you know."

"Rose?"

"Rosalie," she smiled, "But Rosalie doesn't like many people, so don't be offended. She'll come around eventually, heck, other than Emmett and the brothers she hated pretty much all of us when she was found."

"What do you mean?"

"You don't know?" Victoria's eyes widened, "About how Rosalie came to be one of us?"

"No, what happened?" I asked, sitting down a few feet away to be level with her eyes.

She sighed, "You know of the Volturi?"

"Yes."

"Well… they have a member in the Elite Guard named Royce, Royce King. He was a man who was born a few hundred years before Rosalie, but they lived in the same spot. He would always visit after a few years to see if the settlement had changed…"

"Go on…" I said, wondering how Rosalie as a human got involved with the Volturi.

"Royce spotted Rosalie as a small child, her mother died at birth so she was raised by a father and two brothers, she was a very adorable little girl-or so I've been told, but Royce had an instant affection."

Her eyes darkened and she sighed, looking away from me.

"Royce returned later on, Rosalie was now eighteen and very beautiful, to a point where her father rarely let her out of the house, but Royce saw Rosalie's beauty and became obsessed, eventually visiting her when she was home alone and eventually Rosalie was infatuated with the man, he told her stories of his past and teached her of the world she could only imagine outside of the towns boundaries. But eventually Royce wanted more… told her the life of being a vampire and asked her to become his immortal mate."

"And… he changed her?" I asked, my mind entering a whole new world of Rosalie.

"No." Victoria's voice got somber, "She refused, she wanted a human man. To grow old with and have kids, Royce couldn't give her that. Enraged, Royce came for Rosalie one night and almost killed her in his doings… I don't want to explain what he did; it is not my business to tell. But after wards he bit her, not thinking it was enough venom to change her, and she was later a vampire with a vengeance and a hatred for James and the Volturi."

"That's… that's horrible." I said, my voice shaking.

Victoria nodded, "It is. And Rosalie is so strong for our movement to destroy the Volturi-when the time comes to fight she will go to him first."

"I didn't know she went through all that. I thought she was just…" I trailed off, not wanting to be rude.

Victoria smiled, "Its fine, we all think it. Some romances end in pain," she placed a hand over her heart, "That's how it usually goes."

I frowned, curiously wondering what had happened to her.

She sighed, "But that's a story for another day," she stood, reaching out a hand to help me out. "Come, have you been taught how to fight?"

Shrugging, I followed her towards the Pit, "I know the basics…" I began, "But they're making me focus mostly on my shield, trying to expand it."

She nodded, "I've heard of people with a shield, it would be nice to not have Edward in your head… but I guess some of us aren't that lucky. Aro has a shield, a woman named Retena."

"Is her shield like mine?"

"I haven't seen your shield, so I wouldn't know."

I nodded; we were now in the middle of the pit. All other fights had ceased and the crowds were watching us curiously, I placed the diary a few feet away, wondering what was in store for me.

"Attack me." She demanded a few feet away, a coy smile on her face.

I rolled my eyes, taking a few steps then leaping at her like I had been taught to earlier, aiming for her legs.

As I leaped she jumped high above me, a good twenty feet in the air then I felt a weight on my shoulders, she was on my back! A sharp kick landed in my side and I went to grab her, but she was too fast, as soon as I reached she twirled faster than human eyes could comprehend and grabbing my arm.

Slinging my leg back I delivered a sharp kick to her stomach that sent her a few feet away, she growled angrily before jumping at me again. Tackling me and holding me down on my back, I tried escaping but she was too strong and fast, when I would move to one side she'd pin me down again.

My ears barely made out the hollering of the surrounding people and shouts for either one of us, some encouraging me on and some shouting for Victoria to teach me a lesson.

I couldn't move, she was too fast and too strong and I was loosing, fast.

In the back of my mind I heard Charlie, giving me defense moves but I had no way to do them, I was on the ground and the defense moves he had showed me were all meant to me done standing.

My vision went read, I was shaking and struggling, feeling claustrophobic (could vampires be claustrophobic?) and began rolling, taking Victoria with me and stopped in a pool of dust a few feet over. I punched her sharply in the side before jumping back up to my feet, pulling her arm as I stood and kicked her in the side, making the red head growl and squeal in pain. I wondered if her arm hurt.

She tried jumping at me but this time I was ready, I jumped to the side and caught her as she moved to the spot I was at formally, pulling her tall frame back to the ground and catching her legs as she fell, taking her body and swinging it yards away at the stone wall where she hit it with a loud grunt, landing in a pile of un moving and moaning body beneath.

And then the yelling hit me.

Alice was beside me in an instant, patting me on the back and jumping up and down telling me how much of a good job I had done.

Jacob was next; in his human form (yet again shirtless) he pulled me into his arms in some sort of backwards hug and squeezed me tightly.

From the corner of my eye I saw Edward starring at me with a look of annoyance on his face and his nose scrunched up like he smelled something bad. I didn't pay attention. He wasn't worth it.

I'd actually won, celebrating with them I turned around and hugged Jacob back, taking in his warm smell and bright smile I actually felt comforted. It reminded me of home to be along a warm body, it almost reminded me of Charlie's hugs.

When the cheering had died down and another fight had began I was pulled to the side again (diary in hand) and sat between Alice and Jacob, Victoria once again sat a few feet away facing us, a cat-like grin on her face once more.

"Congratulations." She'd told me after I'd apologized, "There's no reason to be sorry, you have to learn somehow, now not only are you a shield but you're also a good fighter, a lethal combination." Her eyes glinted like she wished to fight them now, taking each and every Volturi member on.

"She's not only a shield you know," Alice added, obviously remembering what had happened on the riverbank and when I'd seen Kate's past.

Victoria gave her a confused look, which lead Alice to explaining my other "talent."

"But… in the past only Juno has been able to see into someone's past experiences," Victoria said astoundingly.

"And she never had any children," Jacob murmured, eyes thoughtful.

Alice nodded, "Exactly, that's why we've been searching for ways for her to be related to Juno," she looked at me, "But so far no leads have been found, it is well known that Juno is the most secretive of the original ten,"

"What about all the vampires that have powers?" I asked, voice high, "I cant be the only one like this!"

"But you are," Alice said, "Some vampires have it in their blood line before they're changed-which we believe is what's happening with you. Vampires mated with humans to have half breeds and they mated with humans and eventually over the centuries they've been dulled down, in the oldest days they were called _witches_…" Alice looked me in the eyes, "I was one of those, my ancestor was relative of Luna,"

"And how else can you have a power?" I asked.

"Sometimes, if the Lord gives enough venom into the bite when someone's changed, they can take powers that are in the vampires blood and obtain them. That's what happened to Jasper, his sire- a woman named Maria had the blood of an empathy in her own, so that's why Jasper can read and change emotions."

I sighed, leaning back into the ground on my elbows, "This is so confusing."

Jacob laughed without humor, "This is why I love being a wolf instead of a blood sucker." He winked at me, "We all know who we come from without doing a lot of studying and other boring shit."

Moaning I collapsed on the ground, starring up at the ceiling high above me.

Yet another day had led to no answers, and another day of the war growing closer.

Near the end of the day most of the vampires had gone into their homes, most of them lived in the multiple caves that dotted the cave wall, going to have leisure time and spend a few hours focused on something other than fighting.

The wolves lived in La Push- a small town off of the ocean about a thirty-minute drive from Forks. I'd grown up in La Push as well, my father had always spent time with Billy Black fishing and ended up totting me along.

I walked back to the Cullen house (Esme had offered to let me stay in the spare bedroom earlier) and kept a slow pace among the forest, Alice and Jasper had remained at the cave with a few others, but other than that Edward had left after the fight, the same annoyed look on his face was present when he went down the tunnel and out of sight, Esme and Carlisle liked being home before too late incase any human visitors stopped by (I had no idea why, no humans interacted with the Cullens) and Rosalie and Emmett were doing who knows what back at the house. Which was why I chose to take my time, I didn't walk back into the house with the couple doing the unimaginable.

The forest was quiet and peaceful, in hidden spots animals slept and insects hummed in the tree's, going about their own business they paid no attention to me as I walked-barefoot on the leafy ground.

Since I'd came to be one of them I'd chosen-or forced by Alice- to purchase more clothes, I was now used to being dressed in designer jeans and expensive sweaters from stores I'd never heard off.

I made my way to the river before I walked to the house, enjoying the feeling of fresh earth beneath my feet.

It wasn't till I was a few feet away from the water than I realized I wasn't alone.

On the opposite side of the river, sitting in the sand was Edward. His face down, eyes closed to reveal the longest of eye lashes, he was gorgeous. His skin shone brighter in the moonlight, although from the first glance made him look peaceful, a second one made you look closer at the anguish on his face, the tense position of his shoulders.

He was stressed.

Even more so then anyone could imagine.

I wanted to hug him.

Almost.

Suddenly he looked up to meet my eyes, his own fierce.

"Are you going to just stand there and look at me all night?" He sneered, his lip curling up in a fierce way.

I narrowed my own eyes, "I didn't know I wasn't allowed."

He sighed, suddenly just looking sad. Patting the spot beside him he beckoned me, "Come here… please."

Rolling my eyes I jumped over the river a swift leap, landing beside him in a soundless thud. I sat beside him, facing the man who was so beautiful but so aggressive and un-sympathetic.

Fidgeting with his hands he sighed.

"We need to talk."

**So… werewolves don't stink in this one? Yay. I don't want Jacob to smell bad anyways.**

**Reviews please?**

**I want to get up to 60 with this chapter.**

**Please let me know your thoughts and if you think I should change anything!**


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

"About what?" I asked, feeling my eyebrows rise on my head.

Edward sighed, looking away from me once more.

"I… apologize," he sounded like he was forcing himself to choke the words out, "I apologize for being such a … jerk."

I snorted, "Don't forget douche, asshole, arrogant son of a…"

"It isn't ladylike to curse, why back when I was born…" Edward snarled.

I interrupted him, "You were born back in the day of Greece's rule Edward, this is the twenty first century and it's about time you began realizing that."

His eyes widened, gold against the black sky.

"Why you… good lord you are lucky my mother taught me better than to talk to a lady like how I want to talk to you, if you are a lady. You sure don't act like one." He jumped form his sitting position and paced away from me, digging his hands in his hair.

I wasn't letting him have that, jumping to my feet I followed him.

"You are so full of yourself!" I hissed, feeling my venom pool into my mouth, "And it is sickening! You think because you have a title before your name that you're better than me, well you're not. I don't know why ever speaks to greatly of you because in my eyes, you're no better than the Volturi!"

In a second I was on the ground, Edwards hand clasped around my neck, his eyes glaring into my own.

If looks could kill…

"How dare you talk to me like that you foolish girl!" He spat, "You have no idea how stressed I am. Do you? No you do not. How dare you compare me to the _Volturi_," he said the word like it burned his tongue to voice it, "I do what I do for pathetic little humans like your family."

I struggled under his grasp, only making him clutch me tighter. I suddenly remember someone telling me how Lords were stronger than other vampires.

Go figure.

"If humans are so pathetic then why is half of this army of yours have human in them? You can deny it all you want Edward, but if it weren't for humans you wouldn't have majority of them! We were all humans once, all of us!"

He gave a haunting laugh, "I wasn't you foolish girl," he buried my head deeper into the ground, "I was born a vampire and will die one, so are my brothers-and they were formally humans, but vampires? We are the greater species. Humans are weak and feeble-minded creatures, you are replaceable. You are irrelevant!"

"Then why do you interact with them!?" I clawed at his arm now, trying to get it away from my throat but it was useless, he was all muscle. "Why do you drink from animal blood if they're so replaceable? Why are you a vegetarian?"

Edward growled again, eyes narrowing till they were only a slit.

"You know nothing of me-you know what you've heard-rumors. But you do not know all you think you do, you are young and foolish," he slowly removed his hand from my neck and backed away.

"You might mean something to my family, for whatever reason, but you mean nothing to me." He hissed.

In the next second he was gone, in blinding speed he was on the opposite side of the river but running away from the house and the cave, farther into the thick part of the woods and uncharted mountains, leaving me alone. Still lying on the ground.

My arms shakily made my way to my shoulders, clutching onto myself I pulled my knees up behind my arms and set my head down between the two blades.

I sobbed, though no tear came. Awful muffled sounds came from my chest and my whole body vibrated but the tears came. None.

My face remained dry.

And I kept sobbing.

I hated this life. Hated how inferior Edward made me feel, hated not knowing who I was or how I was supposedly related to Juno. I hated everything and everyone.

I hated Edward.

I hated Edward for telling me the truth.

My parents- they were replaceable. They could die and anyone that didn't live in Forks would never hear about it, they lived short lives compared to us… to vampires. In a hundred years, maybe even fifty, nobody would remember Charlie and Renee Swan for what they were.

The best parents a girl could have.

The best parents who had lost their daughter to a life of hell and demonic living. Where their oldest child feasted of living creatures to survive.

I was right; Edward was no better than the Volturi.

But then again, neither was I.

**I'm not updating till I get 70 reviews.**

**I know this is short, but I've been having writers block. **


	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

Eventually Alice found me, curled up into a ball beside the river.

Wind blew harshly and flung my hair at my face, above a terrific thunderstorm rumbled and struck lightning down here and there, the rain made my whole body soaked and even colder. Rocks kicked up by the wind hit me at high speed but crumbled to dust when they met the stone hard skin that covered my body.

"Bella!" Alice screeched when she saw me, pulling me up to stand beside her. Her long bony arms surrounded me in a tight embrace but I didn't return it.

I knew it pained Alice to see me upset, but I didn't care. Instead I just continued my tearless sobbing. Over and over again as Alice rubbed my back and told me it would be okay in a comforting voice.

It almost felt like something Angela would do.

I sobbed again.

Angela.

I hadn't even thought of her, how did she feel about my disappearance? She would miss me, I was sure. Unlike Jessica or Lauren who probably jumped at the chance. I could see them now, faking frowns and comforting my family but while they were alone, dancing at how I'd gone away.

I sighed, digging my nose in the shoulder blade of Alice's tiny body. In the back of my mind I wondered if she'd later be upset that standing in the pouring rain was ruining her designer clothes.

I decided not.

It wouldn't matter if it did. The Cullen's had so much money Gucci and Prada wouldn't leave a harsh sting in their bank deposit.

Heck, they could buy out Gucci and Prada and still have more than enough money.

"It's going to be okay Bella," Alice murmured into my hair, "Edwards wrong. Forget him. Forget Edward."

I sobbed again, my body shaking in her hold.

The wind continued to hit us and the river roared as it shook the water within.

After a few more comforting rubs on my back she pulled away, looking at me with her deep golden eyes, a determined look on her perfect face.

I remembered as a human when I'd thought Alice Cullen was weird. How Lauren and Jessica had told me horrible stories about how she'd come about the Cullen's, and I guess they were right. What Alice had been through as a human was horrible, but she wasn't strange, or crazy. She was eccentric and lovable.

Never judge a book by its cover had never seemed truer.

"Come Bella," she said, her eyes far away. But not like she was having a vision, like she was in deep thought. "I think it's time we paid someone a visit."

Instead of waiting for me to reply, she grabbed my wrist and ran. Leading me into the woods and eventually past the Cullen house.

As she ran I sprinted to catch up, somewhat jealous of how graceful she looked. I was a lion, but she was a cheetah.

"Where are we going?" I asked, dodging a tree. My bare feet hitting the floor in thuds too quiet to hear over the splattering rain- at least for a human.

"To a place I think you need to go." Alice answered, giving no further hints. But I could almost hear the smile on her face.

Eventually we reached a place I'd known all of my life, Main Street, Forks. The town was quiet around me, everyone huddled up inside their shops or houses trying to avoid the rain-but it was comforting.

We moved so fast it wasn't possible for humans to spot us. Rain puddles splashed the bottom of my jeans and I suddenly realized how soaked I was. It was dreadfully uncomfortable but manageable.

Alice ran on-or leaped, whatever. Eventually she parted off of the main road and I suddenly got an idea of where we were going.

Passing the stop sign I had a flash of a childhood bike accident, the oak to the left below the big hill was yet another place where I'd broken a bone or two. And the sidewalk itself had left my skin scabbed and bruised.

And then I saw the house.

The Swan house was always something to look at, if you looked the right way. The house itself was three stories, not counting the cellar beneath or the attic filled with rotting away, dusty boxes of childhood memories and photographs of me and Collins early years.

The paneling was white, the roof black tile that was fixed up each year to prevent water leaking through the old ceilings. The front porch was decorated with old, white whicker chairs where Charlie and Renee used to watch me play in the yard as a child, a huge tree with a decrepit swing built off a branch was on the left side, just outside the window of my-what was my room. Stacks of firewood were stood near the porch steps, thick green vines grew up one side of the house and the window panes green paint peeled from old age and no managing. But it was home. From the bright red door Renee had insisted "accented the house" and "gave it character" to the mailbox ruined by BB gun pellets from where Charlie had taught Collin how to use one.

I missed it dearly.

Alice gave me a few seconds to take it in before pulling on me, "Come Bella. We cannot let them see us."

I followed Alice onto the patch of woods a few feet away, matching her pace as she creeped forward towards a window-the one that gave view into the living room.

It was then that I realized my truck was missing.

Alice knelt down beneath the window, hiding with her eyes just peeking to gaze into room. Luckily for her, some of Renee's old-dead plants had been placed beside the window in hope for sunlight to hit them. It almost made me laugh at the thought.

I joined her side silently, taking in what I saw.

They were all, here, none of them talking. Instead they watched the TV, but I could see no light in their eyes. They were watching TV physically, but mentally their minds wondered to far away places. They almost looked like Alice did when she was having a vision.

Collin had grown, my younger brother had to be at least 5'3 now, tall for even his age. Only a few inches shorter than me. His hair was recently cut, the dark brown cropped short against his scalp. He was certainly going to be handsome when he was older. But his eyes were dull, no light in the brown depths. Just sadness. I felt guilty.

My parents were worse; Renee's long, auburn hair had grown out, but streaks of gray ran through it and it was brushed back, like she'd been running her hands through it. Something she did when she was worried. Her baby blue eyes were ruined by the bags beneath them, and her makeup was smeared around the edges. Like it was days old. She was curled up beneath a quilt, shivering though I knew that she never let the house drop below seventy-five degrees.

Then there was Charlie, the Chief didn't look like he used to. His curly brown hair was in a ruck, uncombed and wild. His eyes were wild too, like he'd seen too much pain in the world and had gone crazy because of it. He'd lost weight, and his mustache wasn't its usual perfection, the handlebar was gone and left was a permanent frown.

I was about to begin sobbing again.

"Alice… why… why did you bring my here?"

Alice sighed, rubbing my back again.

"Soon Bella," she murmured, "Soon you can visit them-soon this will all be gone. But first we need you to control yourself."

I jumped up, sprinting away into the forest angrily and waiting for her to appear.

"Is that what this all is?" I growled, "A way to trick me into controlling these horrid powers?"

Alice's eyes were said, "No Bella." She said, "I'm just saying, without you being able to control whose minds you enter-or find the extent of your shield, its not safe to be around them. They're on the brink of a big trauma and you suddenly showing up and mistakenly enter their minds will drive them over."

I nodded slowly, calming down a little.

"Can you feel it?" I asked, "When I enter minds and see memories, can they feel it?"

Alice nodded, a hint of annoyance on her face. "It's like… a pinch. One that hurts, by the way. And if it hurts vampires… humans might have a more dramatic sense of the matter."

"I understand," I said, a new need to control this-this magic. To find out of my origins, to find out if my family was connected. And if there was any way I could return to them."

Alice smiled sweetly, "Come Bella." She began walking towards the woods, "We have much to learn-and much to practice."

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	15. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

A few days later I found myself in the Cullen library, a place much unlike the one in the cave. Located in the houses basement, it was dark and dreary. Obviously not a place meant for humans. The temperature was freezing, despite the bright fire that blazed in the pit. The walls of the room were filled with books, books and more books. These weren't as dusty and worn as the ones of the cave. Instead they were novels from artists and philosophers and autobiographies. And other than a few sparse chairs the room was otherwise empty of decoration and style.

Something told me Esme didn't decorate this room.

I was sitting on the tiled floor, a few feet away from the fire. My legs tucked under me and my hair swept up into a messy bun. I felt comfortable.

It had been three days since the spat with Edward and visiting my family. Since Alice, Kate and Zafrina had all tried helping me understand my powers with some improvements. Meanwhile Carlisle-in his free time had helped me search for answers of Juno. But nothing had been found, everything was the same information and nothing new had been released.

The diary had been useless, many of the pages torn out and nothing involving Juno. Much was about the writer's annoyances and how the weather was.

After a few more pages of reading I'd tossed it into my room and left it there.

It was on the floor when I began to hear the piano, playing a song I faintly remembered from my human life. Claire de lune.

Setting the novel I'd been reading down, I tilted my head up, making my hair slip out of its tie by a fraction, but I didn't care.

Swaying side to side as the piano continued to play, I –without paying attention- began making my way up the stairway that lead to the main floor.

I made no thought that Alice, Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett were on a hunting trip in Canada. Or that Esme was at the market, making an appearance so that humans wouldn't think the Cullen family didn't eat anything. Or that Carlisle was at the cave because Edward had said he "needed time to himself".

So that's why I was so shocked when I walked into the living room and saw _him _sitting behind the piano, his long fingers strumming along the keys. His face bent down, eyes closed showing thick eyelashes and dressed in something other than slacks and a button up, today Edward looked …. Comfy.

His long legs were covered by dark gray sweatpants that hung low on his waist, a plain white shirt covered his muscular chest and a chain hung around his neck, though it dipped below his collar. Not allowing me to see what was beneath.

I made the mistake of letting my shoes clack loudly against the wooden floor when I saw him, screwing myself when he looked up. His eyes wide and face shocked.

He'd been too focused on his music to hear me walk his way.

"Oh... sorry, I didn't know it was you." I mumbled, facing the floor. Not wanting to meet his eyes.

"Its fine." He said, his own voice quiet and soft. Not annoyed like I'd suspected it to be.

I nodded, looking out the window now. Taking in the trees and meadow. It was now all white; Christmas was coming to Forks fast. Only a few weeks away. Alice had begun talking about it nonchalantly, dropping hints to everyone who would listen.

I was getting worried on what to buy her.

He sighed, sounding tired. "Isabella, you don't have to distrust me or whatever feelings of displeasure you have for me, I'm sorry for the other day."

Meeting his eyes I could tell his apology was sincere.

I nodded again.

A small smile grew on his lips as he watched me, his eyes gentle.

"Do you wish to accompany me today? It's usually my job to get a Christmas tree for the house; we always have a big party with all the vampires and wolves here. The girls always like it more when we decorate and make some big ordeal out of it."

I felt my eyes widen in shock but I fixed them quickly to avoid his notice, "Sure." I said, "Just tell me when."

"That's the thing…" he trailed off, giving a lingering look at his wrist were an expensive looking watch was. "I was supposed to get it today while Alice was out hunting, and if I don't have one by the time they get back, well… I don't want to deal with her rage."

I smirked, thinking of Alice yelling at Edward for not getting a tree.

"Why do you need me to accompany you?"

He shrugged, "You know Alice's taste better than I do, if I come back with an ugly tree than she'll be even angrier. I believe a woman's touch is needed, and since you're the only one around…"

"So… when will they be back?" I asked, trying not to over think the thought that he'd called me a woman this time. And not a foolish girl.

"Well…" he looked at his watch again, "In about an hour and a half?"

I was already up the stairs, heading for the guest room I'd made into my own. Hollering over my shoulder I called to him, "Be ready in five!"

In the car I tugged on my scarf, feeling somewhat uncomfortable in the silence. Edwards Volvo drove along the twisting roads that lead out of Forks, he'd told me that we'd have to go out of town to get a tree, because anyone from Forks would recognize me, even in my vampire form.

Sighing, I leaned back in the seat, taking comfort in the softness of my coat.

I'd dressed warm, even though the temperature didn't affect me. Humans would notice if I dressed in shorts and a tank top or something. So instead I was in a bright red pea coat, over dark jeans, a long sleeve white shirt and a red, green and white scarf.

I felt festive. It fit the holiday feeling.

At least something did, because the awkwardness between Edward and I wasn't jolly or anything among those lines.

Outside snow fell lightly now, the forest that surrounded Forks and anything else in Washington was beautiful, a white fortress. A place straight out of a book.

Every so often Edward would glance at me when he thought I wasn't noticing, his golden eyes narrowed more and more each time. It was like something was bugging him. What it was I couldn't imagine.

I hadn't done anything to him this time.

After a twenty minute drive of quite a bit more than the speed limit Edward pulled down a second street, my eyes over looked an old sign with faded black letters _"Trees for you and trees for me". _

It took all I had not to roll my eyes at the name.

But it wasn't a stop and pickup Christmas tree place, like the ones I used to go to with my family. No, behind the small building that sold everything from candles to chocolate was a large patch of evergreens that grew back for what seemed to be miles, some trees were thin, sparsely grown and looked like Charlie Browns. But as they grew further back they grew taller, thicker, and healthier.

Edward stepped out of the car before me, blowing onto his hands in what I guess was an attempt to seem more human, and waited politely for me to join him the front of the Volvo.

We weren't the only people here; cars that stretched from mini vans to Porsches were parked in the snow-covered lot. Multiple families ran around, kids played in the snow while moms yelled about not getting too cold. Fathers smelled of sweat under their thick clothes as they lugged trees here and there, some tying them to the back of the van while others sat in piles of snow, catching a breather.

"Wait here." Edward instructed when I joined him.

He walked over to an older man with hair as white in the snow that was commissioning families with chain saws after giving instructions on how to be careful and use them without loosing any families. Behind him I saw a big list of rules that I was ninety percent sure nobody cared enough to look at.

The old man smiled at Edward, shaking his glove-covered hand and handed him some big cutting thing that I had no idea what was called. But it looked a lot safer than the chain saw.

Edward called me over a few moments later, resting his hand on my wrist he smiled at me before looking back at the man.

What was this nonsense?

"This is Isabella," he said to the man, "this is her first time here."

"Nice to meet such a pretty young lady." The man smiled at me warmly, revealing crooked teeth. "I'm Waylen Forge, known Edward since he moved a few towns away. But he's usually always here by himself, you must be a special girl to win the heart of this young fellow." He winked at me.

Immediately Edwards's hand was off of my arm, his eyes widened and I could feel my own doing the same. If I were human, I would have blushed.

"Oh no Waylen, sh-she, Isabella's just a friend." Edward mumbled, his face still embarrassed. Though I was in too much shock of my own to enjoy it.

"Y-yeah," I stuttered, "I'm a friend of Edwards sister. That's why I'm with him.. not because…"

"Oh darn," Waylen said, "Sorry. Just when you see two young people such as ya'll, you begin to think things." He didn't seem sorry at all. In fact, his eyes twinkled a bit in amusement.

"Yeah well…" Edward gulped, eyes still bugging out. "I guess we better get going then, you know. Christmas trees…"

"Yeah!" I said, immediately resenting the way my voice squeaked, "Well, come on Edward!"

He mumbled a goodbye to Waylen before making his way up the hill that led to the evergreen forest, refusing to look at me. Instead he focused his attention on dodging trees and snow piles higher than a foot.

We kept walking till the trees became thicker and closer together, making it harder to squeeze between them. The amount of families grew smaller, seeing as many of them didn't seem to want to go this deep into the woods. Every here and there birds would fly out from the tree branches but Edward kept walking, not seeming content with any of the trees we passed. Even the ones I thought would be presentable.

"Where are we going Edward?" I asked, watching as overhead the sky grew darker.

"Deeper into the woods where the huge ones are," he called over his shoulder, "Alice like the tallest ones, and Esme likes the ones with the thickest branches. And I'm pretty sure by now you know that both of them don't go for second best."

I laughed softly, matching my stride with his. "That is true."

He gave me a light smile.

We kept walking deeper and deeper and eventually we stumbled upon the tallest ones, I ran over to one covered in snow and touched a branch softly. Thinking about how beautiful the green looked covered with the snow.

"What about this one?" I asked, smiling to myself. Thinking of how it would look in the Cullens house.

And then I felt something land in the back of my hair.

Snow.

Turning on Edward with my mouth agape I stared at the smirking vampire.

"Aren't you going to apologize?" I asked, narrowing my eyes as his body shook with laughter.

He shook his head.

I smiled coyly, "wrong answer." And then leaped at him.

We fell into a snow pile, me on top and shoving his face into the snow and laughing wildly.

He snarled playfully, flipping me over and throwing snowballs at my face as I giggled beneath him.

"Say your sorry!" he yelled, his own voice light and golden eyes playful.

"Never!" I jumped up at him, making our bodies hit a tree that fell down on contact. But that didn't stop us. We kept rolling and rolling and I felt snow in places I didn't think it was possible for snow to be but that still didn't stop me from flipping Edward over or him doing the same to me.

"Do you give up yet?" He said at one point when he had the advantage on me; I squirmed beneath him, trying not to look at him. And how amazing he looked with snow in his bronze colored hair.

"Nope!" I said, rolling him over and this time screaming slightly when I realized we were falling-well rolling-down a hill. His body shook as he laughed against mine and I noticed how good it felt, to be pressed up to him and to have an actual _laugh_ for once. I'd laughed since I'd been changed, when I was with Emmett or Jacob did something stupid but never like this.

This was fun, wild and childish but I was loving every moment of it and something told me Edward was too.

We landed in a small opening in the woods, Edward still chuckling as he finally pulled himself away from me and sat down on the ground, head threw back into a deep laugh that echoed off the trees and made birds fly from their hidings.

I sighed deeply, feeling content and laughed over and over. Feeling joy I hadn't felt in a very long time.

And in the exact same moment as Edward, we noticed the tree that stood a few feet away.

It was perfect.

Perfect height.

Perfect thickness.

Perfect color.

Just perfect.

I exchanged a knowing smile with Edward and knew he was thinking to same.

This was the tree for us.

After retrieving the tree Edward carried it back to the car with one hand, the other in his pocket. It was quiet now, other from the occasional laugh from him or me. All the humans had left when the weather grew too cold but it felt nice to me.

"What time is it?" I asked, looking back up at the almost completely black sky now.

"I have no idea," Edward said, "I left my phone in the car."

"Me too." I said, kicking up snow with my boots.

We both laughed again.

Back at the car Edward skillfully tied the huge tree to the top of the Volvo while I sat inside. Still feeling over joyed. The cars heat was on-letting my clothes dry- and the interior was all clean and fresh looking. Other than the fact that Edwards phone was hooked up to the car charger, the Volvo would of looked brand new.

"Ready to go home?" Edward asked when he got into the drivers seat, a smile still on his face.

I nodded, "Sure, lets hope Alice isn't home yet," I gave a fake shake of fear, "I don't want her to hurt me."

He laughed again, grabbing his phone.

"Lets see what time it is…" he unlocked the phone and I was shocked to see that he had twelve unread messages. Who felt the need to text Edward that much?

Then his face paled. Even for a vampire. His hands gripped the steering wheel and he spun out of the parking lot and back onto the road. Making me slide in my seat.

"What is it?" I asked, voice squeaky. "What happened?"

He remained silent, his face full of rage and anguish as he drove. A strange combination.

"Edward, please." I begged.

He gulped, his adams apple doing this weird movement.

"There was an attack," he spoke in gulped phrases.

"An attack on who?" I asked, my mind wondering a million things in a single second.

"On some of our coven, Bella." He said, "The Volturi- someone was killed."

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**Give me your opinion on how this is going so far, I don't know if I'm taking the right approach to the story.**

**Update should be here shortly.**


	16. Chapter 16

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

Edward drove fast down the snow-ridden roads of Washington, not stopping for lights or stop signs. It was a shock the tree didn't fall off the roof.

It was a good thing there wasn't any other cars around this late.

By the time we pulled up the curving driveway that lead to the Cullen house I was still frozen in my seat with worry.

Who was it?

Why them?

And along with the pain I felt anger. I didn't even know who it was yet, but I knew that the covens members weren't bad. In fact, in the past time I'd spent with them I'd begun to like many of them that weren't part of the main Cullen family.

Edward left the car without waiting this time, speeding in a flash of movement up the pathway to the house with me right on his heels.

Inside was chaos. Majority of the covens vampires were all in the living room, all-yelling up to Carlisle who stood on the stair trying to silence everyone. Esme sat down beside him, face downturned and I could see anguish. Rosalie and Emmett were at the bottom of the stairs, helping Carlisle calm people and Jasper stood like a wall along the railing of the second floor. His face blank and emotionless, I wondered if he was trying to help calm people with his power.

Then I realized Alice wasn't there.

As soon as Edward entered the yelling got directed at him, many of them yelled for vengeance, wild anger in their eyes. All trying to be louder than the others. Some were quiet and somber, not listening to their angry coven members.

"Stop!" Edward yelled, running up the stairs to stand beside Carlisle. I remained on the sidelines, wondering where Alice was. Wondering if she was even alive.

The yelling stopped immediately, all heads turned upward to look at Edward.

"Lord!" One said, speaking while the others silenced. He looked older than most of the others, his hair was deep black and his tined lightly toned like he wasn't American. I think his name was Allistair.

"Lord what will we do? We lost one of our own tonight,"

Edward nodded, "Indeed we did. And this is all the more reason to fight with more strength and train harder each day. The loss of Victoria was a great one, she will be missed. Her death leaves us with a deeper hatred for the Volturi then ever before, she was a good friend, and a loveable member of the coven. She will be greatly missed."

Below him many nodded in agreement, many finally calming as Edward spoke.

Then I realized.

Victoria.

It finally made sense as to why I hadn't seen her wild, flaming hair among the crowd.

I gulped. A uneasy feeling unsettled my stomach.

Victoria.

Behind me the door opened and closed.

"Bella!" Alice yelled, pulling me into a hug before looking at me with worried eyes, despite her bright attitude it was easy to see the anguish inside.

"I thought it was you!" I mumbled into her side, taking comfort in her hug. Victoria was gone but Alice was still here.

"No." Alice said, "I believe you'll have to put up with me a little while longer."

I smiled.

Then I noticed Alice wasn't alone.

Behind her was a vampire with a very wild look to his clean face; he was as tall as Jasper, with shaggy golden hair that reached his shoulders. And something about him was strangely familiar. He was obviously a vampire, but his eyes were different. His pupils were huge and red, but the ring around it wasn't ruby or golden.

It was blue, like a human.

His eyes settled on me momentarily in an unsettling matter till they looked up the stairs at Carlisle and Edward.

"James," Edward said. His face unable to read. Beside him Carlisle smiled grimly.

"Brother, you've returned."

I felt my mouth open wide. I probably looked like a gaping fish.

So this was the third brother?

I saw it now, his golden hair was the same as Carlisle's only less tamed and longer, he had the same facial structures as Edward. But his were less straight and more angular, less proportional. And his body was the same muscular form as the other two, like he spent weekends at the gym.

James nodded at Carlisle, but when he looked back at Edward his face became much angrier.

"She's dead." He said quietly, looking at the golden haired vampire. His golden eyes intense, "I'm sorry brother… I know…"

"Stop, Edward." James said. Sighing deeply, "It's fine. We will talk about it later." He moved quickly, up the stairs to stand beside his brothers. Esme retreated down a few steps to look up at them.

I understood why, they were truly a sight to see.

James, tall and mysterious. With wild eyes that made you think he was crazy, unhinged. And his mysterious red-and-blue eyes that no other vampire had. I made a back note to ask Alice why they were like that.

Carlisle, his eyes held intelligence and thoughtfulness. I imagined that in a fight Carlisle would win by simply smart fighting. Nothing rough or edgy like perhaps his brothers would.

And then there was Edward.

The most handsome, with eyes that usually held no emotion and left you wondering. Eyes that could see into your mind and tell every next move, every thought, every single thing.

Well, everyone's thoughts but mine.

I gulped.

They all stood closely, Edward situated in the middle as they looked over the vampires and wolves that made the audience.

"Battle is coming," James said, his voice becoming louder with each word, "And we must be prepared for anything. Victoria was a strong fighter… but even the best may fall. We cannot fall. For if we fall, so do everyone else."

"We must be the wiser man in battle," Carlisle said, eyes turning to him, "We must expect every move they make." He looked at Alice momentarily, "And we must think carefully about our techniques. The fight is closing in, closer and closer each day."

Edward cleared his throat then, his eyes closed tightly. Like he was thinking.

"We are strong." His voice rang out stronger than his brothers, "Strong and wise and crafty. They may think they know us, but they know nothing. Every day we fight for a loved one fallen, to protect the right of humans so they cannot suffer as we have in the past, to defeat a war that has stood on our shoulders for a thousand years, I know some of us may be scared. We all are scared of something. But we mustn't let this get to us, this is not a defeat for the coven, this is a fuel to make us even stronger and more prepared. The Volturi have grown to confident and ambitious as the years continue, they must be stopped. And it is our job to stop them. For this coven is stronger than them, we are the guardians of the world. We are the warriors!"

Below the crowd cheered again, taking in everything Edward said and loving it. I could tell why they respected him so, he was a good guy. I'd found that out today.

And as I watched girls like Tanya and Maggie fawn over him with love-struck faces, something in my stomach tugged and felt uneasy.

But I didn't know what it was.

**Thoughts?**


	17. Chapter 17

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

Eventually the crowds left. Some of them going out on late night hunting sprees, others headed back to the cave for the night. Left behind was the initial Cullen's, Jacob and some of his pack, James, and me. Who sat by himself on the stairs while everyone else conversed below. I had a feeling James wasn't as vocal and loud as his two brothers.

"He'll lighten up eventually," Alice, said when she noticed me looking at the blonde man, "He used to be Victoria's mate, he's just sad about her death."

I raised my eyebrows, "If they were mates, why didn't they stay together?"

Alice looked back up at James before pulling on me, leading me outside into the night. "I didn't want to be so close to James when I explained," she said, continuing to walk down the path and into the meadow that surrounded the Cullen's house.

She finally sat down in a patch of soft grass close enough to the main road I could hear a car driving down the street. "Come," she patted the spot beside her for me to sit beside.

I hesitantly sat down, plucking the grass beneath me and enjoying the way the moonlight made my skin sparkle.

"Did Victoria ever explain to you why she joined us?"

I shook my head.

"Ah," Alice said, her eyes glistening, "Well… Victoria joined us a few hundred years ago, she was a maid with her older sister living in England when she was changed, Victoria had a self-preservation gift. She could tell when she was in trouble…." She trailed off and gulped, "So she must of known what was going to happen… but she was defending another clan mate- her friend, Laurent, she died in honor…"

_Laurent._

The name sounded familiar, and I got a picture of a tall, brooding vampire with darker skin and long hair.

I curiously wondered if they were more than friends.

"So… James?"

Alice nodded, her mind taking on a new track, "Victoria's sister, Anne, got killed by the Volturi. She traveled alone for some years before finding out about us, after a while, she joined us. But she wasn't used to the amount of people, being used to only traveling with her sister. And James has always been a loner, even though he was grown up into this environment like Edward, he has always preferred being alone. Eventually James and Victoria began enjoying being alone together, and eventually they were mates. James is a tracker, one of the strongest ones. When he closes his eyes, he gets a mental vision of where that person is and see's a trail that nobody else can leading him to that person. That's why his eyes are so strange."

"What about Victoria's eyes?" I ask, "Her eyes were a lighter red than everyone else's."

Alice nods, "That's only because she used to drink from only humans but lately has been trying out animals and the color is slowly changing.

"Oh."

"Yeah, now back to James and Victoria. While Victoria was obsessed with the idea of getting revenge on the Volturi-much like everyone else- James had grown tired of the constant fighting. He wanted to spend his time tracking and exploring not worrying about the Volturi every second of his life, so he left. Much to the displeasure of the coven, especially Edward. He left Victoria behind too, he wanted her to join him, but she was too involved in the movement and didn't want to leave her friends… so they separated."

I felt my eyes widen, "They just… split? I didn't know mates could do that."

She sighed, looking sad. "They usually don't. And that's why James is so somber, or at least that's probably what it is. If he would of stayed, he would have been able to save her most likely. And this happened two hundred years ago, and rumor has it Victoria was slowly becoming more and more interested in Laurent, which just crushes James more."

I nod slowly, it all making sense. "I never would of guessed."

Alice shrugged, standing quickly, "We should hurry and go back incase we miss anything," she smiled coyly like she knew something I didn't, which knowing Alice, she probably did.

"So… have fun with Edward today?"

I groaned, sprinting off to the house with Alice on my heels. Her laughter echoing off the trees around the otherwise silent meadow.

Back at the house the same group of people sat quietly, Jacob with a few members of his pack (I think their names were Seth, Paula and something else. Sam or something like that.

Edward was conversing quietly with his brothers, Carlisle nodded but James remained silent and motionless, his eyes set far away and cloudy. Like he was thinking of something. Or someone, probably.

As soon as he saw her, Jasper ran to Alice and swept her up into her arms. Their eyes locked in an embrace filled with so much love; I had to force myself to look away from them.

I found myself meeting the eyes of James. His strange blue-and-red eyes seemed to widen once they made sight of my own.

And then it was like they were a vacuum, sucking me in.

"_James!" a loud voice interrupts my thought process, I was thinking of a new trail. A new scent. A new person of unique interest._

_For the centuries I'd been a vampire, since my parents died, I had tracked the sweetest of bloods across the continents, seeking the humans who called the most to me. The ones who smelled like the freshest of flowers or the newest of fresh meats or the best cake at the bakery. _

_They were whom I hunted._

_Or, whom I wanted to hunt._

_I couldn't, things called being a Vampire Lord, the Volturi, and having the annoying of said 'loud voice' in my life, prevented me from doing what I pleased._

_With a sigh of reluctance I opened my eyes to meet the fierce golden gaze of my older brother._

_Edward._

"_Come, we have a new member I want you to meet."_

_He beckoned me with a single hand motion leaving me with nothing to do then to follow._

_The oh so mighty, oh so great, older brother was always in charge._

_Ever since we were born._

_Now, it wasn't that I was jealous of Edward, hell I wasn't even jealous of Carlisle. I could never hold the responsibility they do, so maybe that's why I'm the screw up._

_Edward was always the favorite to our father, Cato. And Eumelia was always over caring of Carlisle, her two perfect boys. Edward the brave and Carlisle the compassionate._

_And me? I was James… the third brother._

_We made a good team though; I will give my brothers that. Together we were practically unstoppable, Edward had the speed and strength, Carlisle had the strategy and battle skills, and I had the raw urge and wild urge to do what nobody else would._

_Yeah, I guess we made a good team._

_I wasn't jealous of my brothers because of their rank. I wasn't jealous at all._

_I was angry that I had always been told what to do and how to act and who to interact with and what to say and who to say it to and who to hate and who to love and everything else my brothers had me due for the safety and good of the coven._

_After a few centuries it got old._

_I've been alive since Greek civilization._

"_Who is he?" I asked up to my brother._

"_She," he corrected, "and her name is Victoria, her sister was killed by the Volturi and after hearing rumors she decided to join the cause."_

"_Ah." I said._

_So she was probably another one, another one of the ones filled with so much hatred for the Volturi it pumped their systems with adrenalin and made them completely faithful to "the cause"._

_My brothers loved those._

_They annoyed me. There was no significance, no difference among the crowds. Just another one._

_I followed Edward back to the house they'd made the settlement around now, another place close to the Western United States, close to the cave. Following him up the steps to the small cabin that had a creaky door that made Esme's lip curl and had garden so bad even birds didn't nest there._

_But that might have more to do with vampires living inside._

_Who knows?_

_I wanted to be a bird. I thought, to be able to fly and migrate and only live off of eating and resting seemed wonderful._

_More exciting than this life._

_Edward opened the door and I could visibly feel my eyes widen once I saw who was inside._

_She looked… strange. Not the common look you find among girls these days, her hair was…. Wow. Her hair, I remembered the flames that burned through Rome and it held no light to her hair. It was scarlet, bright blood colored red. Pulled behind her hair in long curls and twirls that surrounded a ghostly white face with big lips and black eyebrows. She was dressed strange too, in.. what was that pants? On a lady. How absurd._

_And over her main clothes was a huge coat of fur, fur from an animal I didn't know nor did I care about at the moment. But she didn't look like how they usually looked, the new-revenge-filled ones, her eyes weren't burning with hatred, instead they were somber and curious. Like she was sad, but too focused on what to make of us to worry about her pain._

_What was her name again?_

_Oh yes, Victoria._

I blinked once again, expecting the flashback to stop. But they kept coming.

_Now I'm running through the forest laughing, Victoria at my side. Her hair is wild beneath her and she has this coy look in her eye like she's going to do something sneaky tonight._

_Then I'm jumping into a lake, hunting a stray Volturi that got too far away from its coven. But he's strong, maybe as strong as me. And then his hands are at my neck, about to twist._

_Then Victoria's there, and he's gone. His head rolling away like a tumbleweed._

_Then all I feel are Victoria's lips on my head, soothing me, calming me down in a way only she can. Someone else is dead. The Volturi get even._

_And then I realize that my feelings for her aren't simple, I love her._

_And then…_

"Ouch!" I shriek, jumping into the air and grabbing onto my head.

"You!" James snarled, standing quickly, "You were in my memories!"

"I didn't mean to!" I cried, still trying to push out the harsh pain that was inside of my head. Like a supernova headache, a volcano erupting and the lava stuck inside my skull.

James snarled but by now Edward was on the scene, Jasper stood a few feet away, making us calm down. I could feel his energy coming off in waves.

"You…" James said, his voice becoming less frantic, "You're like her. You're like Juno."

The room remained silent till a snort of laughter interrupter us all, Emmett was sitting on the coach, stroking his dark hair with one hand.

"Tell us something we don't know, bud."

**Reviews would be much obliged. This took a long time to update, but it's been a long week. **


	18. Chapter 18

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN**

Ever have one of those days where you have the specific urge to do absolutely nothing.

Even as a vampire, I was having one of those days.

Last night had been traumatic, with Victoria's death and James's outburst on me being like Juno.

Now another person-vampire-whatever, thought I was some freak whose ancestry made no sense. In the eyes of others I was a puzzle who was missing a million pieces and they had no idea what I was supposed to be.

Great.

I found myself in my room, lounging on the baby blue and brown comforter Esme had designed the interior around. My room wasn't big and extravagant like the other Cullen's, but maybe it was because I spent most of my time studying in the library or trying to find another source to my hidden ancestry.

In the back yard I could hear them- the entire coven, practicing. Fighting. The weather was gloomy and every so often thunder would crackle high above, but that just pulled more vampires out from the cave into the huge backyard behind the Cullen's home. They're started training harder than before, Jasper instructed people how to kill quickly, Edward and Alice gave tips on how to tell what the opponents next move would be, and Emmett was giving a lesson to some of the bigger and stronger vampires how to use their slower speed but greater strength to their advantage. Everyone participating, even the quieter vampires had joined in with the events, suddenly becoming more vocal. One of them I'd noticed-I'd peeked outside a couple times from behind my curtain- Laurent- the vampire who Victoria had been 'close' to was one of the loudest people, which was surprising seeing as he normally sat in the shadows and watched. But now he had pulled his long hair back into a ponytail, changed out of his usual heavier clothes and changed them for a sleeveless shirt and jeans. It was strange, seeing them all come together. It was a big family.

Which I guess they were.

I sat in my room for hours, my system played Clair De Lune on repeat and a Jane Austen novel stayed on my lap, but I never truly got into it. I'd already read all of her books at least ten times each, and despite how I usually was able to get back into the book, this time my mind was distracted and cloudy. I couldn't focus on anything, the words seemed to just skim my mind over like a passing breeze that left no imprint on my mind and wasn't strong enough to freeze me over.

It annoyed me.

It annoyed me to a point that I stood, tossing the book away from me and began pacing on the hardwood floors of my room. My hands pulled on my hair and I raised my head to the high heavens and screamed silently to myself.

Why did I have multiple powers? I wasn't a lord, Edward was. That's why he could compel human minds and read the ones of all creatures (but me-freaky power number one) and Carlisle could do who knows what (cause I mean-nobody really mentioned it) because they were the children of one of the Kings. But me?

I was a child of a woman with a mix of Italian and Irish descent who had spent her teenage years partying and a Police Chief with a funny beard and beer gut.

And wouldn't that mean Collin would have powers too if we were strangely related to Juno? Edward had never mentioned my brother being strange, neither had Alice or anyone else for that matter.

Why was I so weird? Why couldn't I just be a normal vampire-hell, why couldn't I of been a normal human? Why had I walked up that trail that one-day by myself? I was a cop's daughter for grief sake! I should of known better.

Grunting I threw a pillow that was annoying me by just being in my line of sight towards the dresser against the wall, it hit harder than I thought a pillow could. Making things (probably expensive since Esme had decorated) fall down into a pile below.

Rushing to catch the things my hand connected with the worn diary I'd found a while back. The one with the red ink and easily annoyed writer. Grunting, I picked up the old book and forced myself back onto the bed, sitting with my legs crossed once more and began flipping page after page, wondering if I'd missed something. It was only halfway read-since the earlier pages contained nothing I didn't waste much time on it- so about halfway I slowed my flipping and began skimming over the pages.

**Today passed slowly, my urge for…** flip page.

**My brother is so irritating, today he**… flip.

After continuous flipping I was about to throw this book itself when I turned to a page that didn't seem like all the others.

**I had another dream today. Another dream from the gods, they told me of the change that must come. My wife says I'm hallucinating, but she doesn't know. She does not get these dreams, I love her, but she just doesn't get it. My daughter doesn't either, she is fond of them. Of our enemies. She doesn't get it like I do, nor does my wife. But they'll understand, they have to by the time the fighting begins. Or they will fall with my siblings; the only smart ones are my three brothers. Caius, Marcus and Aro. Caius orders them, every day. He is a hungry King, like me. I want power like he does, but I do this not just for the power, but also for my visions and dreams. They haunt me, my dreams do. Each day, telling me of my demise if I do not succeed. But how can we loose? We are much stronger, especially me. My death might be ordered soon by the fates, but I shall not die without my victory over Juno and Cato and Lyca and Luna. Siblings, I wonder how our dear mother and father would like us now. But they're dead anyways, so who cares. Love might be strong, but power is even stronger. And more important. But its still love, that's why I want my wife and daughter to come to their senses. If I have to kill them, it will be painful to me. But then again, I can get over it.**

Gasping, I closed the diary. All the pieces clicking together, but some of them still confusing me.

This was the diary of Thar… _The_ Thar. Who Juno herself defeated, this was his diary. The deceased King of the original ten.

This… this was something else.

Leaping from my bed I grabbed the diary and rushed out into the hallway, knowing right away I was heading for Carlisle and Edward, they needed to see this more than I did. Maybe…

"And where are you going?"

My body slammed against James's harshly, making the floors creak and the pictures sway on the walls, he had appeared out of the middle of nowhere. His strange eyes peered at the diary in my hands and widened greatly, "what on earth is that?"

I raised my eyebrows at him, "something Edward and Carlisle need to see now." I tried pushing past him, he moved in front of me.

"Let me see it, I am one of the brothers you know."

"Yes, I know." I growled this time, trying once more-and failing- to pass, "But Carlisle told me to come straight to him if I found something."

"Ah, so this is about Juno?"

"Yes." I said, trying not to let my annoyance leak into my voice.

"Whose diary is it? Do you know Isabella? Do you?" Okay he was really scaring me right now.

"Yeah... I think it's the diary of Thar."

"Let me see it," he ordered, opening his hand wife out to me.

"No!" I said, taking a step away from him, "I'm not letting anyone see it till your brothers do."

James growled, "Listen hear you little brat…"

"Move!" I shoved him this time, running down the stairs trying to escape but James was too fast, he was behind me in a second and had my thrown against a wall, his hand on my neck now. His other opened once more.

"Give. Me. The. Book." He growled, this time hissing in my face and his eyes grew darker. I could feel him shaking.

With all the strength I had I shook my head, "N-no."

James's eyes went pitch black suddenly, blood red veins began showing under his pale skin (vampires had veins?) and his shaking grew fiercer, making everything on the floor shake with him.

"Wrong answer."

And then it all went black.

**What do you think? **


	19. Chapter 19

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN**

"Bella? Bella are you okay? What happened?"

Slowly I open my eyes, aware of the very livid headache occurring in the back of my head that feels like something's continuously hitting me.

I passed out.

But… vampires don't pass out.

James.

Suddenly everything flashes back in my mind, James, him stopping me and shoving me against the wall, the book…

The book!

"Where is it?" I ask, voice cracking. High pitch and shaking.

Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, Jasper, Jacob and Kate are standing a few feet away, Edward stands a few feet behind Alice, his expression worried and Jasper's the closest to me, his posture tensed. Like there's a possible threat in the room and he's about to take it out if it makes a move. In the back of my mind I faintly realize I'm that threat.

"The book! Where is it? James- he took it!"

"Bella calm down," Alice pleads, bending down to where she's eye level with me, her eyes are clouded and frantic, "what happened? I didn't see anything… I mean, what happened? What book? Do you know where James is?"

I pull myself up into a sitting position slowly so Jasper won't take me out.

"The book… the diary," I look at Carlisle, "The one I found in the library that one day, with the red ink. I was coming to show you something I found I think… what was it?"

I try thinking, what was in the book that I had to show them?

Was it…

_Bang._

Another sharp pain hits me and makes my world shake, what's happening? What did James do?

"Bella…" Carlisle trails off, "What did you have to show us?"

"I… I can't remember," I say, pulling on my hair, feeling miniscule. Why can't I remember? What's wrong with me?

"James." Edward said slowly, his eyes lightening angrily. "Carlisle, James used his power."

"James!" I say, voice cracking again. "He... he pushed me against the wall and told me to give him the book… but, I wouldn't, then all of a sudden everything went black! He took the book!"

"Bastard." Edward growls, "No offense to our mother, of course. But I had an inkling that James would go dark with Victoria dead. She was always the only thing keeping him good…"

"Now Edward," Carlisle begins like he's about to defend his other brother, but even his golden eyes-usually kind and warm- now look uncertain, like he doesn't know what to make of this situation. For a second I feel bad, poor Carlisle. All his life he's faced troubles-usually with family and loved ones- first his parents dying and seeing all of his friends die before his eyes, now his own brother… it wasn't an easy life, I guessed. The life of Carlisle Cullen. "Maybe James… ugh."

"Where would he go?" Emmett asks, his presence gives me some kind of comfort. Even though I don't know Emmett that well, he gives off this feeling of safety. And well, appearances aside, he just seems like a good guy. Like someone you can trust.

"The more important question is how did his power get to Bella with her shield?" Alice asks, she's backtracked a few feet from being in my face; Jasper stands tall behind her, like a golden shadow behind the pixie.

"I thought his only power was tracking?" I ask, trying to ignore the feeling in my throat. Like it is when I'm thirsty, except this was a different kind of pain and burn, less animalistic.

"No," Carlisle shook his head, "He has a very powerful one. Memory swiping- rare, very rare. He doesn't use it often, but when he does… well it isn't a good thing for anyone."

"But how?" Alice asks again, "His power is just as strong as Edwards, and Edward cant get into Bella's thoughts-so how can James swipe her memories?"

"I think I know," Kate voiced suddenly. She'd been standing near the door, watching with curious eyes beside Jacob.

"With shields- I've noticed, that sometime in time of extreme emotion, you can release your shield. It's rare, and dangerous. Because normally they cant tell it's happening if they're distracted. Bella were you excited about- well, whatever it is that you found in this diary?"

I winced again; the pain was back but less painful. I nodded slowly, "Yes."

Kate nods too, "I think Bella pushed her shield from herself when she wasn't focusing on it, and that was how James could use his power on her."

Carlisle nodded once, "It could be possible."

Slowly everyone else began nodding too, seeming to calm down some. Well, other than Edward. Whose face was stoic and eyes stony, gaze fixed on my face. I tried not to pay attention to him. I was panicking.

"I can push my shield away without noticing? Isn't that dangerous? I mean, that's bad!"

Emmett laughed without humor, "Now you know how it feels to be like everyone else, Swan."

Ignoring his comment I look at Kate, "Can I find a way to maintain my shield at all times? Like how I usually do?"

Kate shrugged, "Who knows. Probably, if you practice."

"We need to work that with everything else," Alice added on, "You've been meaning to help maintain your whole memory slipping thing you do with people, with that we can practice your shield strengthening too."

I nod, "Yeah, I guess so…"

"Vamps powers are so complicated," Jacob said suddenly, putting all the attention on him, though he wasn't hard to notice. With his rock hard muscles and the way his body seemed to radiate energy from his very being. "Now, with wolves its simple. You all have people who can take memories, people who can see memories, people who can feel emotions, people who can-I don't know, watch one of you can make stuff appear out of thin air! If that ever happens, by the way, I'm retiring and moving to California. That might be a little too crazy for even me."

Edward curled his lip, turning to glare at Jacob, "Yes, because being a dog and peeing on bushes is so much better than having supernatural powers."

Jacob growled lightly in the back of his throat, I could feel everyone in the room tense up slightly, "Because being a cold hearted, arrogant-"

"Okay guys, lets calm down!" Emmett interrupted, throwing an arm over Jacob's shoulder and quickly pulling him towards the front door, "Me and Jake here have places to be, people to see." And with that pulled the wolf-boy out the front door and away from the house.

I curiously wondered why Edward and Jacob were always going at each other's throats, had something happened between the two of them in the past?

"Anyways," Alice looked back at me, "We will get to that as soon as you're feeling better."

"I'm fine now!" I protested, narrowing my eyes at her.

"No you aren't Bella," Carlisle said softly, grasping onto Esme's hand and squeezing, "You will feel exhausted for a few hours-James's powers do that, even to the best of us. I can imagine it's what people feel like when you enter their memories and watch them."

Well that's something new; I looked quickly at Alice, "Is it really?"

"Eh," she shrugged. "It's more like a pinch."

"Yeah," Kate added on, smiling lightly, "A pinch from hell if you ask me, it's like someone's stabbing you right dab between the eyes, but it's gone in a second. But like… afterwards you feel confused. Well at least I did."

Alice nodded, "Exactly."

"Oh…" I trailed off, "I'm sorry."

Pixie girl patted my hand softly, "It's fine Isabella. We know most of the time you cant stop it-you just get sucked in."

"That's why we need to get you to help control your powers," Carlisle spoke once more, "So you can have more control of when they happen and how to stop them."

Sighing I nod my head, "Of course. I understand."

Standing shakily on both legs I grip the arm of the coach with a firm grip, trying to find my balance. I smile pitifully at the group of people left in front of me.

"Just tell me when we start."

**Reviewssssssssss. **

**I know this story starts out slow, but the fun stuff is coming up soon! Just be patient with me! And a little more 'lovey dovey' stuff coming up too.**

**Why do Jacob and Edward really not get along?**

**And is someone in the coven crushing on Miss Bella?**


	20. Chapter 20

CHAPTER NINETEEN

**A/N don't get Caesar –Juno's companion confused to Julius Caesar. Not the same person!**

"So tell me more about your family." Alice said, wide amber eyes starred into my own from behind thick black lashes.

"What about them?" I asked curiously. We were out near the river-the roar of it loud enough to hear from behind a few layers of tree's that surrounded us, not doing anything in particular.

It had been a week since the James incident, and the third Vampire Lord was still missing, as was Thar's diary. The whole coven was basically treating me like a five year old and didn't let me do anything because they were still worried about my stability, when in all reality I was perfectly fine by now. The only thing that pained me to some extent was the emotional pain from knowing I'd let me shield down the one moment I would actually need it.

If I did that to James, what was to say I wouldn't do it with a Volturi member?

"Tell me everything, about High School and your friends and family."

"Alice, we go-we went to the same school, you still go there."

She shook her head and shrugged, "But I don't actually interact with anyone-if you haven't noticed. I can't really. And when I was human…well you've seen my past. I didn't exactly have the best teenage experience."

I nodded, trying to block out images of Alice's past in my head. Every time I thought of it, the pain I'd felt from Alice's changing still made my insides feel numb and sickly.

"Well… my families the best. Most of my relatives live down near Seattle, so we don't see them as often as we probably should. My mom's dad left when she was just a baby, only my Grandma Swan knows who he is. And she never talks about him, ever. If Charlie could make money off of sitting on the couch watching football all day, he could. But he's a good dad…" I pause, thinking of my father, "He once told me that if I ever dated a guy who didn't like the same football team as him, he'd disown me and send me to the other side of the country because only pansy's didn't like Washington."

Alice smiled, toying with the edge of her polka-dot dress and nodded at me, signaling me to continue.

"Renee's obsessed over a minor league baseball player who's on a Florida team, she always says that one day she's going to save up enough money to go down there one day and never come back," I smiled a little at the thought of my harebrained mother, "Which is kind of disgusting because Phil's only like five years older than me, but yeah. She cant cook to save her life- I cant count on both hands how many burns there is behind the stove from all the times she's had cooking accidents."

Alice laughed lightly, "She sounds like a good mother."

"She is… she's the best. My little brother, Collin, once gave her a potted plank in pre-K to keep on the window-sill, I don't think he thought about how my mom cant keep plants alive, the poor little sunflower was dead in a week."

"I had a little sister," Alice says suddenly, looking thoughtful, "Her name was Cynthia. We never talked much, my father… well after seeing as I turned out a screw-up, he always tried his hardest to keep her away from me. My mother always fought with him about it, but at that time-woman didn't have much say in anything. So it was a lost cause."

I frowned; mind once going back to Alice's past. I couldn't imagine any dad being that cruel to his own daughter, it made me all the more grateful for Charlie being such a great father to Colin and I.

"I'm sorry to hear that… I never thought… I thought you were an only child."

"Nope," she mumbled, "but he sure made it feel like I was."

I remained quiet for a few moments before she spoke again.

"You know what's so messed up about the whole situation?"

I shook my head.

"I still… I still miss him sometimes, even though he was a horrible man. When I was a little kid everything was good... he was a good father at times. Its just in the end, the bad outweighed the good."

I sighed, my head facing down to look at the rock we were currently sitting on. "I believe the balance is what defines us as people, not everyone is totally good, not everyone is totally bad, we're all a little bit of both. But one will always be more than the other, it's not balance, its over-rule of one of them." I paused, "I still feel horrible about killing humans, its not one of my finer moments. Its not good… but its not like I haven't done good in life, I like to think that my good outweighs my bad, it doesn't redeem me enough in the sense that I should be looked at as perfectly innocent, but it is enough to make me feel better and give me content."

"Wise words," Alice murmured, looking at me with a peculiar expression.

"What is it?" I asked, "Is there something on my face?"

She smirked, "No. You just… your words just reminded me of someone."

"Who?"

She shook her head, making her short black hair sway behind her. "I can't say."

"Why- "

"Alice!" Just then Edward burst from the trees at vampiric speed, his bronze hair windblown behind him, "Oh." He said once taking in my, "I thought you'd be alone."

Frowning, I stood from my sitting position and jumped off the boulder, "I'll leave."

"No!" He said quickly, "Bella wait, I didn't mean it like that."

I just looked at him.

He glanced up at Alice who was watching us, her facial expression still thoughtful.

"Are we still on for hunting tonight, Alice? For once not much is happening, I wanted to travel north and see if we could find any mountain lions."

Alice frowned, "That was tonight?"

Edward sighed, looking disappointed, "Yes Alice. But I can understand if you made plans with Jasper, I'll go by myself."

"Wait! Bella can join you!"

"What?" I asked, my voice squeaking lightly.

Alice nodded, jumping up to stand beside me.

"Bella isn't doing anything, plus you haven't been hunting since last week."

I opened my mouth to retort but nothing came out.

"I guess…" Edward trailed off; not sounding too thrilled at all about having me as company tonight. I was actually kind of offended, had the time we went in search of a Christmas tree honestly been that bad?

"It's a plan!" Alice smiled, jumping up and down and clapping in a miraculous show of multi-tasking, she pulled my arm and swung me over to Edward who still looked solemn, "Well, ya'll should leave now. It is getting dark after all, don't be gone too long kiddo's." She winked at us. She really winked at us.

If I were still human I would have been blushing.

With a quick look at both of our faces, she looked smug for some unknown reason and pranced off towards the house, humming joyfully to herself.

When she was a little while away Edward turned to me, his face unreadable, "You don't have to come if you don't want to."

I frowned again, once more not feeling wanted.

"If you don't want to go with me Edward, just say it. I'm a big girl and can handle it."

He actually looked shocked, "No Bella, I'm not saying that at all. I want you to come; I just didn't think you'd want to. Alice is known for pressuring people to do things they wont want too."

I shrugged, hoping I looked nonchalant. "I don't mind, I have nothing better to do."

He smiled grimly and mimicked my shrug, "Neither do I, for once."

"Okay then," I murmured, hiding my hands in my jacket pockets, "When do we leave?"

"We can leave now if you wish," He said, "I want to go near Canada, mountain lion is my favorite thing to hunt and they're more likely to be found up north."

I raised an eyebrow, "But Forks has mountain lions, maybe not many but they're around."

"But not as many," he replied, "We usually tend to hunting things in large supply, we don't like hunting on rare game, it hurts the population of certain areas where they're needed."

"Oh." I said, dumbfounded that Edward would actually be considerate enough to think about the numbers of animals rather than just when he was eating.

"Follow me, if you wish." And then he was off, running at a moderate pace that was easy to keep up with, though each time I caught up he would seem to start running a little faster, like he was trying to beat me. It eventually got to the point where we had a full out race through the thick forests of upstate Washington as we neared the Canadian border, in all truth, I had no clue where I was headed. But I hadn't raced in a long time, and boy and felt good.

Even though he beat me.

He beat me so bad that when I arrived at the place he stopped at, a whole ten seconds had passed and he was standing there with an annoying cocky and equally attractive smirk on his face.

"I went easy on you." I snapped before he could say something, he just chuckled lightly.

"Is that what they call loosing nowadays?"

"I let you win, Grandpa. Don't forget that."

"Grandpa?" He touched his chest and stood there with a shocked expression, "You're the younger one but run like a grandparent, so I believe you have no room to talk."

"You're only enough to be my… well you're old enough to remember Caesar. So you can't talk."

He rolled his eyes, "Julius- intelligent man, he was kind of arrogant though. Although that kind of ruined him in the end."

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"What? I knew the guy."

I decided not to reply this time.

True to his word, we found more lions here than we would of in Forks. I killed one of my own and a few unsuspecting doe in a nearby meadow while Edward stayed strictly with his cats, killing two of them before settling back on a rock in a contempt display watching me kill my last deer.

"I remember when Emmett was made," he said out of nowhere, his amber gaze in deep thought. "After his first hunt you would think he just got out of a massacre because his whole body was red from the blood. He still is a messy hunter; it makes Esme so upset because she can never get the stains out. He now has a closet of clothes he wears specifically for hunting."

I laughed, imagining Emmett walking back to Esme's picture perfect home covered in blood head-to-toe.

"What about you?" I asked, "When you began hunting?"

He took a few moments before replying, "As a child, my mother- Eumelia would always feed us blood from an already dead animal or human-back then the whole vegetarian idea wasn't big. But when she finally deemed me ready to hunt I already had seen vampires do it time after time, so I was basically clean. Carlisle was the worst on his first hunt, he came back messier than James and I combined. The gods know how he ended up being a doctor, as a child he was so clumsy and dim-witted."

"Is that what you believe in?" I ask suddenly, "the gods?"

Edward looked thoughtful, "I believe so, yes. Though people will believe in anything if they're taught to. Many don't believe in a specific religion because of what they believe, they believe because that's what they were taught at a young age and what they've been told to think and believe."

I kept looking at him.

"Cato- my father always told us stories of Greek mythology when I was young, so I guess the thoughts of Zeus, Athena and all the other gods stuck. In generalization, the war was before time of human recollect, or at least, they aren't mentioned in anything. And Juno was said so of sacrificed herself to the gods to save us all from Thar and his army, so yes. I do believe in them. The oldest of us all do."

Something suddenly flashes in my mind.

"In the diary… Thar said the gods sent him dreams. Dreams saying the way of the earth had to change and that's why he started the army…"

"Not all gods are good, Bella." Edward murmured, his head turned up to face the sky, the light leaking down from the trees did unexplainable thing to his hair color.

I just nodded.

"Plus Juno sacrificed herself to them, if they were sending Thar those dreams, don't you think they wouldn't of accept her?"

"You have a point..." I say, mind still wandering. We'd studied Greek mythology briefly in school, but it was never stressed. Just always something passed over and never given a second thought.

I stepped forward a few feet and sat down in front of him, something inside of me urged the next few words out.

"Tell me more about your family."

He looked at me quickly, "What?"

"Tell me more about them… About Cato and Eumelia and your aunts and uncles." I said quickly, thinking back to Alice had asked me a question similar to this only a few hours ago.

He looked shocked but eventually he came to and his mouth started working again.

"Well... my father was brilliant… he truly was the smartest person I've ever know, and I'm two thousand years old. He looked like Carlisle when he was younger, but for some reason, his appearance changed dramatically as he neared the time of his death…" He trailed off, looking saddened.

"Why was that?" I asked in a shaky voice. Not wanting to upset him by talking about his father.

"Our appearances reflect our power, the original Kings and Queens-the surviving ones, all have clouded over eyes-like milk. Due to their age, and their skin is strange. It's still smooth and white but it gives off this strange glare… I don't know. But either way, as my father got older and weaker, his hair became stock white, and he began to look like one of those ancient Greek mathematicians of prophets, the fact that he wore his toga more than he probably should didn't help. But yeah, he looked like Zeus. Or what Zeus is said to look like."

I nod, trying to imagine a picture of a guy who looked like Carlisle but with white hair and a beard.

His expression lightened as he continued talking, "My mother… well I guess I'm the only one who looks like her, my hair-the ridiculous color of it is hers. Only the original vampires- the kings and queens can have children with another vampire. Which is why my mother was allowed to have me, we grow fast. I was fully mature by the age of seven, though my mom didn't start treating me like I was grown till I was three hundred."

He smiles and I let the most ridiculous of words spew out my mouth without conscious, "your hair isn't ridiculous. It's unique, I've never seen anyone with that color."

He just looked at me.

I gulped awkwardly, "I mean.. uh, go on."

Edward smiled again; I was beginning to grow fond of those light smiles of his. "Bella, you intrigue me at times."

I raised an eyebrow at the strange phrasing. "In a good way or a bad way?"

He laughed again, "Good. Trust me. If it was bad, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

I rolled my eyes.

"You know who you reminded me of when I first saw you?"

I shook my head, trying to remember back to the first time I saw Edward Cullen.

"You reminded me of my mother. Not the eyes, or hair color or face. But your expression when you're being serious about something, your eyes get bigger and your eyebrows narrow and your cheeks sink in like you're about to unleash your raft on some poor innocent creature."

I don't know how to respond.

He smirks, "It's strange. My mother was so elegant and possessed every quality of the gods, while you're still looking like a fresh bed head when you finish hunting." He chuckled, eyeing my hair with an amused look in his eyes.

"Hey!" I protested, trying to tame my hair, "Don't make fun of my hair, yours looks like you have a pumpkin patch growing on the top of your head!"

"You just said it was unique!"

"Yeah well," I stuck my tongue out at him, standing up and putting my hands on my hips, "I was lying!"

"Oh you've done it now!" He yelled suddenly, jumping up and tackling me.

I squirmed under his weight and tried fighting him off but it was no use, he was too strong. After a few seconds of struggling I finally relented and looked up into his gaze, annoyed to find that he was still laughing.

"Can you get off of me?" I pouted, trying to ignore the feel of his body, "Those two lions you ate definitely made you gain a few pounds,"

"Oh you're testing it little girl!" He said, pinning my arms behind my head as I tried using them to pry him off of me.

"Stop calling me little! Just because I'm not a grandpa like you doesn't mean I'm little!"

"Bella," he took a slow look down my body, making me feel very vulnerable under his piercing gaze. "Face it, you're little."

I narrowed my eyes, "Those are fighting words."

He gave me a very long and overly exaggerated roll of his eyes, "Bella, you are not in the position to talk about fighting. Is this how you'll be with the Volturi?"

"I don't know. Will you squish the living daylight out of the Volturi?"

He smirked and his expression became cocky and thoughtful… I didn't like that look. It made it seem like he was planning something diabolical.

"Bella…" He trailed off, bring his mouth down to my neck slowly, I gulped. "You can _not_ tell me you aren't enjoying this, I created you. I can feel you calling to me, I know you feel it too."

I said nothing, trying to focus on how to get my body to stop shaking but it was useless. Here I was, under _Edward Cullen _of all people with my arms spread away from my body and his lips hovering over my bare skin. It was useless

He slowly brought his head up to look me in the eyes deeply, "Tell me Isabella, tell me."

I gulped, forcing myself to remain silent. I wanted to scream. No, scratch that. I wanted to do a lot more than scream.

"I will make you tell me Bella." He said, his eyes smoldering into my own. Making me melt with every passing second.

"Okay then," he shrugged, "Don't say I didn't warn you."

And then his lips connected to mine.

**What do you think? **

Reviews are appreciated.


	21. Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY

I sighed, settling down into the couch beside Kate and Jacob.

It had been a week since the "incident" as the _Lord_ himself had said it later that fateful day when he'd confronted me after leaving me alone in the forest.

_Flashback:_

"_Isabella." I heard a voice say from behind me. _

_I sighed, we were back to Isabella. _

_Great._

_I turned to face the yellow-eyed man and became face to face with an expressionless face, like he was made of stone._

"_Edward." I said, looking everywhere but his eyes._

"_I apologize for my earlier actions." He said, looking behind my head, eyes focusing on the background._

_I remained silent, too shocked._

_He was apologizing? For what? _

"_You have to understand that in all my existence, I have had few interaction with anyone of the female breed that I do not view as a sister, I was excited. I don't wish to make this strange for the two of us, so I believe we should leave the incident behind us. And act as is it never happened. To keep a respectable relationship between Lord and his warrior."_

_I gulped and nodded, trying not to let my emotion show in my face. But the softness lightening of his eyes revealed that it was obvious on my face._

_I was … well, sad._

"_I'm sorry Isabella. If I led on your affections for me, I'm sorry I cannot return them."_

_I stood, mouth agape. Did he really just say that?_

_Narrowing my eyes I snapped back at him, "No need to apologize. I can understand, and don't be confused. I have absolutely no affection. How could I have feeling for someone like you? That's simply a ridiculous comment."_

_For a few seconds he looked shocked, like he was processing what I'd said._

"_Very well." He said moments later, a fiery expression in his eyes. "Then it is understood."_

"_Crystal clear." I muttered, he nodded again and then walked off. Posture straight, like he was holding something in._

_I rolled my eyes then the sadness sank in, he didn't feel the same way._

"OH MY GOD." Alice squealed, running down the stairs in a speed faster than a blink. "It's only three weeks away, can you believe this? THREE WEEKS."

Kate rolled her eyes beside me, "Calm down Alice. You've known what you were going to wear since last year."

"Wait, wait, wait. What are you talking about? Christmas is in a month."

Jacob groaned, "Not this thing again. I don't want crazy Alice for the next few weeks."

"Jacob shut your mouth before I get you a muzzle," Alice snapped, throwing a pillow at his head that he caught.

"WHAT ARE YOU GUYS TALKING ABOUT?" I yelled, standing up and facing the three of them with hands on my hips.

"The ball." Alice said, looking at me like I'd grown a third eye.

"Back out now Bella," Jacob said, "You don't want to get dragged into this mess,"

Ignoring him, I turned to Alice. "What ball?"

"The masquerade ball you dumby!"

I raised an eyebrow.

Kate sighed, "Every twenty years there is a masquerade ball at the Core. It's to celebrate the original twelve Kings and Queens, even Thar." She said with a shudder, "All the covens come, the Volturi, the wolves, us, and all the small nomads roaming the planet. Every vampire is invited, and it's the one night of peace for all of us. It is said that if you disrupt the ball with violence, the gods will punish you. And that's not something someone wants to do."

"Wait... there's a masquerade ball at someplace called the Core, and the whole time I've never heard anything about it?"

Alice sniffed, "I thought you knew."

I narrowed my eyes.

"We have to find you a dress!" She said excitedly, bouncing up and down.

"Alice, no. I'm not going,"

Jacob scoffed beside me.

"Yes you are," Kate said, sounding bored, "And you know you will. So don't even try and say you wont."

"Who's making me?" I asked.

Alice sighed, grabbing onto my hands with her tiny, child-like ones. "Bella, please. You've become one of my best friends, and I'm really excited about it. I wont be able to enjoy it if you're not with me."

"Alice…"

She gave me the puppy dog eyes, the fucking puppy dog eyes.

"Fine." I relented, sitting back down and sinking into the couch.

"Yay!" She squealed, "I have the perfect dress for you! It's never been worn, I bought it because I knew one day it would come in handy, and this is the day!"

Jacob laughed again, "Poor Bells."

Kate looked at him sharply, "I don't know why you're laughing dog boy, you have to go to."

He frowned, "You don't have to talk about it."

Images of Jacob in a tux filled my mind; it didn't seem so bad after all.

"So what's the dress look like?" I asked pixie girl.

She clapped her hands together, "Can't say."

"Alice." I said, giving her the evil eye.

"Bella."

I pouted at her, "please."

She winked, "Bella, that only works at me. But I'll tell you the color, it's blue."

"Hmm," I thought about that, "Dark blue or light blue?"  
She winked once more, prancing away towards the stairs, "Can't say Bellaaaaaa."

Once she was gone I turned to Jacob, trusting his opinions more than Kate's.

"Is it honestly that bad?"

He sighed, crossing his arm behind his neck, "Well Bells, I don't wanna scare you. But well, I think you should be."

Fantastic.

Kate jumped up, stretching before looking back down at us, "See ya' later guys, my sisters want to go to Seattle for a little shopping, Bella you can come if you want?"

I shook my head, I liked Kate, but Tanya had a negative affect on me. The type of affect that made you want to set yourself on fire and jump into a pool of sharks.

"No thanks, I'm not in a shopping mood right now. Maybe another time."

She shrugged, "suit yourself. Bye dog boy." She slapped Jacob on the back of the head and walked away, leaving me alone with the wolf.

"Are you okay?" He asks a few minutes later, distracting his attention from the TV for a few seconds, "You seem like something's bothering you."

I shook my head, not meeting his intense gaze. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Lie." I saw him narrow his eyes from my side view. "If something's bugging you, tell me."

"I'm fine, Jake. I swear."

"Fine." He grabbed onto my hand, "But just remember I'm always here."

I nodded, enjoying the warmth of his hands, "I know, thanks."

"Anytime. Want to do something today?"

I raised an eyebrow at him, "Like what?"

He shrugged, "I'm going into La Push. Taking the old beetle, feel like joining?"

"Sure," I shrugged, "why not?"

"Okay then," he stood suddenly, brushing his khaki shorts off.

Jacob looked good today, I had to admit. Though the fact that he was shirtless might of contributed to that. Sunglasses rested on the top of his head, an easy smile on his red lips. He really was attractive.

"Coming?" He held his hand out to me.

I grabbed on, letting him pull me up towards him, "Lets go."

I hadn't been in public in forever, every time I left the territory it was to hunt. I hadn't been to Forks since I was changed, so when we crossed the border I took a deep breath and turned to look at Jacob, apparently my face showed the same emotion as my insides were feeling.

"You'll be fine." He reached across and grabbed my hand, "I promise. I know you wont screw anything up." He winked at me.

Sighing, I began following him towards the Cullen's driveway, wondering what my journey back into my hometown would bring.

**What do you think will happen on the trip? And what about the ball? Reviews please.**


	22. Chapter 22

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

When my head hit the pillow all I could do was sigh in contempt. Even though I was a vampire, it still felt good to relax. To sit back without feeling as if you were supposed to be doing another duty. It was good.

Earlier in the day I'd gone down to La Push with Jacob, and to say the least... it hadn't gone that well.

Between me accidentally popping into the minds of multiple people (one being Claire- imprint of Jacob's clanmate- THAT hadn't gone well when she'd started screaming about me burning her) and Jacob and Billy both agreeing that it would be better for me to stay off the land till I finally got full control of my power- it was easy to say that I wouldn't be visiting the rez for a very, very long time.

Downstairs I heard the sounds of Alice buzzing around, still screaming about the masquerade ball and Emmett teasing Edward about his "Love Machine" -what was that? Apparently something had happened that had made Lord GrumpyPants himself ever grumpier than usual. I didn't care anymore, Edward could deal with his own life drama and leave me to my own. Like why the other vampires looked at me like some new type of animal species whenever I wasn't looking, or the hushed whispers of whether I really was a spy- oh THAT was a good one. A spy, even though Edward himself had changed me. It was exhausting to my mind, despite the new boundaries. Over the past few months as a vampire I'd grown to believe I knew everything there was, other than my origin of course. It was like I had one big question mark over my head. And I found it downright disturbing.

Sighing, I lent my head back, letting my eyes drift close. Wishing I was human and could sleep again, have dreams and let my imagination run free.

Concentrating on nothing other than my blank mind I let the sounds around me drift away till I tuned them out, my mind wondering in a state close enough to sleep that I was almost happy. Almost.

From the corner of my closed eyelids I saw a glow, a brilliant golden glow that shined bright enough to sting even my eyes. Panicking I rolled over onto my stomach, frantically trying to move but it felt as if my body was chained down to the bed. Gasping for breath I opened my mouth to scream but nothing came out, it was as if something was choking me. A giant black pit of nothing was sucking at me, pulling my breath, my eyesight, my entire being into it. Crying out silently I gripped at the sheets, trying to pull myself into consciousness. What was this? Was I dying?

HELP ME. I screeched, hoping something would come out but it was only a barely there gasp. Crying tears that wouldn't come I sent out a prayer to whoever for my parents, my brother, my new found family...

Then I opened my eyes.

It was beautiful, somehow I was standing on this huge white balcony amongst the sky, as in the was no ground beneath. Only blue skies and fluffy white clouds, the balcony was connected to a magnificent white house that put even the Cullen's house to shame. All around flowers grew in vivid colors from amethyst to amber to cerulean, along the white paneling of the house vines grew up towards the next level and marble statues of Greek Gods stood here and there, a few pieces of white patio furniture sat on the opposite side on an uplift, and a grand fountain situated itself in the middle of the balcony, water spewing from the mouth of Cupid. The whole thing was about as big as the Cullen's living room.

But the exterior wasn't the most beautiful thing there. My eyes finally met another pair, bright gold. In a way that was so lively, not yellow of a vampires but the purest shade of gold, the type that made you melt. An unexpected look of kindness could be found in them, shining so bright I felt my insides heat up and I swore blushed, despite being a vampire.

The woman was gorgeous in a way that took my breath and made my eyes widen, but she wasn't attractive in an envious way. She was attractive in a way that made you want to bow down and kiss her feet, in a way that stood in the minds of men for a thousand years, never giving another woman the time of day for her own beauty out shined every others.

Her face was heart shaped and tan, her eyes shadowed by thick lashes and her skin clear of wrinkles. I couldn't decide on her age, she could of been sixteen or forty for all I knew. Her hair was a deep shade of brown, not dark like mine or reddish like Esme's, waving out down to her waist. She was dressed in a cream peplos gown and strap sandals were on her feet.

She smiled when she saw me.

"You've came."

"What?"

She laughed gently, a light, tinkling sound that seemed the make the fountain water bubble louder and I swore I saw the flowers colors coming out more.

"I've been waiting for you, Isabella Swan. Waiting for you to finally put your shield down long enough for me to speak to you. But I guess it's too strong," she frowned for a second, making me instantly feel guilty for absolutely no reason.

"I.. I'm sorry. Who are you?" I spoke quietly, voice shaking in nervousness. She let off a power that was almost unnerving, despite her gentle appearance it was obvious from the way her body hummed that she could blast me away in a mili-second.

Instead of answering she turned her back to me, gripping the railing and looking out into the blue skies, a second later she beckoned me to her with a flick of her finger.

"Isabella, look out and tell me what you see." She said to me when I walked up beside her, I did as told, looking out into the blue skies.

"I see the sky."

"And what else?"

"Hmm.." I tried looking closer, what did she want me to see?

"I see clouds."

She snorted, rolling her eyes at me. It was so unlike something I expected her to do, I almost fell over trying to keep a laugh in.

"I forgot how young you were Isabella." she sighed, "I guess it's easy to forget when you're subdued in time Never changing, never growing. In my world you don't notice passing days, its always one big chunk of time to another."

"Where is that?" I asked, "Where am I?"

Smiling she winked at me, "You've been here before."

I raised an eyebrow at her, "I have?"

"Ah yes, you spent quite an amount of time her as I recall. But you won't remember it."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want you too."

"And you are?"

Shaking her head she winked again, "Can't say that, it's your job to find out."

Stifling a growl I sighed, leaning against the railing. Trying to wonder what this was. This couldn't be a dream- I couldn't sleep. So what was this?Who was she?

Suddenly out in the distance a bolt of lightning flashed, standing out against the blue skies. But it was so unusual, what was lightning doing on a clear, sunny day like this?

She let out a small sad sigh beside me, taking a step away from the railing and walking over to the fountain. Letting her hand drag over Cupid's face.

"Do you know of Eros?"

I wrinkled my nose, "You mean Cupid? Love angel. Whenever I hear it I think of diapers and Fairy Odd Parents."

She smiled slightly, though it seemed tight. "Eros-or Cupid as you know him is the daughter of Aphrodite, husband of Psyche. Who he almost didn't have because of his mother, did you know that? The God of love himself almost didn't have his true love." She shook her head, "Stories usually end in tragedy."

"Is that how your story ended?" I asked, "In tragedy?"

"No." She said, "My story isn't over yet. I still have a while before I can be at peace."

"You're her aren't you?"

"Who?"

"Juno."

Her eyes widened for a moment and then a loud burst of laughter erupted from her mouth, not a tinkle this time. But a loud, boisterous laugh that rumbled over the whole patio.

In the distance lightning crackled again.

Sighing, she looked me in my eyes, her own were unreadable. "I suppose yes, in a way. I am Juno. But our time is over now," she sent an almost frantic look towards where the lightning had came from, "For now. This is not the last time you see me I promise."

'Wait!" I said, "How are we related? We are related right? We have to be!"

She smiled sadly, "I hope Eros is good to you, Isabella. Lord knows out of all vampires, you need it the most. Goodbye now!"

"Wait!" I screamed, but it was already too late. My voice was drowning out in my ears and my vision went black again. Leaving me to open my eyes back in my room at the Cullen's, breathing rapidly.

That was her.

That was Juno!

**SO SORRY FOR EVERYTHING. I do this off of my school computer, which I just got back. Promise it wont happen again.**

**SO.. who do you think that was? **

**Reviews please**


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N I skip through specific periods of time a lot because I'm trying to get to the main points of the story and get it speeding up faster. I'm on Chapter twenty-two and the climax is slowly coming. This chapter will be the ball.**

Chapter Twenty-Two

"I can't believe I'm doing this." I groaned, looking around the hotel room.

Kate snickered beside me, "Alice will be Alice,"

I narrowed my eyes at her, "How come she isn't making you deal with this?" I pointed down to the seat Alice had positioned me in approximately ten minutes ago before leaping away, warning me not to move because 'she'd know'.

Smirking she flipped a wave of blonde hair over her shoulder and took a brush to it, " Because I've been around a long time, Alice knows better than to try me. I'd zap her." She looked at me quickly, "Plus you're the newest one, Alice always takes in the suckers and makes them her slaves for the first few years."

"She does that to a lot of people?" I asked, suddenly wondering if I was just another one of Alice's 'experiments.'

Over the past few months with the Cullen's I'd grown to view Alice as a bestfriend (something I'd never thought would _ever_ happen in my human life) she was the only one I really trusted, her genuine all time happiness perked up my gloominess and made me feel more comfortable in the new environment. But what if she was like this with everyone? What if I was just another one?

"Oh," Kate suddenly looked guilty, "No. I mean, she's Alice. She's excited about every new member. But she truly likes you as a friend, I think you've even grown on Rosalie."

I shrugged, still not feeling completely sure. About Alice or Rosalie, it was true. Since around the time of Victoria's death Rosalie had tried coming around more often to talk to me, but it was just awkward. A lot of strayed off conversations and a tension thick as nails. Although it didn't help that since the dream (or whatever it was) I'd drifted away from everyone, in fact, I hadn't mentioned it to anyone. Not Alice or Kate, or even Jacob. It felt wrong, as if I was imagining things. But who could imagine that? Juno coming to you in a dream. Especially when I couldn't even _sleep. _It was strange, so instead of running off and blabbing to anyone I'd kept to myself. Trying to make it nonobvious, although I'm sure it was. Even to Edward who looked at me suspiciously whenever he thought I was paying him no attention.

But I always was-paying him attention. I mean, he was Edward Cullen. The past few weeks he'd been around less and less as well, claiming he and Carlisle and Eleazar had 'work' to do. Something inside of me told me he was hurt over James abandoning us at our time of need. But he'd never admit to it, no. Edward was too tough and mighty, he kept the word 'Lord' locked in front of his name like he was born with it. I always felt like it was a stonewall, his emotions were very rarely shown. And when they were it was in short spurts that made you wonder if he'd actually felt anything in the first place.

Behind me I felt the floor move as Alice landed lightly on her feet behind me, a dark blue masquerade mask with long black feathers attached in her hand.

"Here you go," she smirked, looking into the mirror I was facing, "It goes wonderfully with your dress."

I smiled lightly, looking down at the blue gown Alice had shoved me in, and even I had to admit I looked nice. The bodice was tight, my hips distinctive in it before it flowed out into a train, strapless with silver and black detail. My hair had been curled into perfection and earlier that day Alice had done my nails over in blue and black, claiming that it would match. Surprise, surprise. It did.

But I still held no candle to any of the others; Alice was in a gorgeous yellow ensemble that made her resemble a bumblebee but in a curious way, worked for her. Kate's own dress was dark green, and Rosalie was in a slightly tighter dark ruby dress that sparkled with every step she made. Even in this beautiful gown and mask over my face, I still felt pale in comparison.

"Do you think Victoria would have liked this?" I asked suddenly, a pang of loss in my stomach as I remembered my fiery haired friend. Loosing her was hard on me; especially knowing that she could of lived on forever. It also made me think of breaking the so-called treaty tonight whenever I saw the Volturi. Who did they think they were? Hadn't they learned after the first war with Juno not to try and gain power because it didn't end well for any of us?

"Yes," Rosalie suddenly appeared behind me, her reflection in the mirror. Golden eyes connecting with mine, "She always liked coming here… despite seeing the Volturi. Victoria and her sister were born in a time when masquerade balls were still in and popular, but they were both poor. So they never got to attend one," she shrugged, "I guess this ball made her feel like a princess."

"Do you think James will be there?" Kate asked, looking expectantly at Alice, who for some reason looked oddly confused.

"I can't tell, the werewolves- the _real_ werewolves are coming tonight, they mess with my vision." She looked annoyed at this.

"Wait, what do you mean real werewolves?"

Alice rolled her eyes, looking at herself in the mirror and apparently seeing some microscopic flaw on her perfect face, "On of you two explain this to DumBella here, I'm going to find a hammer."

I was about to ask what on earth she would need to find a hammer for but she was gone in a flash, mumbling something about uneven cheekbones and ravens.

Kate laughed slightly, setting herself on the bed a few feet away and stretched her arms, "Okay, story time. I'd get The Boy Who Cried Wolf himself to tell you, but he's with the boys all the way at the other hotel. And we're not supposed to know what they look like. Masquerade and all."

"So what is it?"

"It's a wolf that was from Lyca's original pack," Rosalie began, combing fingers through her blonde hair. "As a vampire, Lyca was able to change shape into a wolf. When it was found that if you injected enough venom when you changed someone, you'd give him or her your powers Lyca decided he wanted more like him, so he created a small group of vampires with his powers. They disappeared for hundreds of years and when they showed up again it was obvious that Lyca's legacy had grown all over, the wolves had populated all over the world, Lyca himself took more mates than imaginable, that's how the wolves of La Push came today, eventually the packs multiplied and just kept growing. Other than vampires, they're the most popular mythical creatures to exist,"

"There are more of us?" I asked, seeing my eyes widen in the mirror.

Kate snorted, "Bella, mostly every 'myth' is created by the truth, witches come from Luna's ancestors or Marcus's, fairies are those who can control earth, dragons still exist in Antarctica."

"Really?"

Rosalie rolled her eyes behind me, "Sometimes I forgot how young you are."

Kate laughed lightly before her phone went off a few feet away, "Alice." She said, lifting the phone to her ear. A few minutes later and a few mumbled agreements she put it down, sighing and looking tired.

"Well, its time."

The Core-as it was called. Was a very well hidden place, located near the coasts of Greece. Alice seemed overly excited as she hoped out the rented car at the parking lot of "Apollos" a run down restaurant with the 'P" light broken on the sign.

"Uh, Alice. Are you sure this is it?"

She scoffed, "I'm not stupid, Bella. But do you think they'd put the place where the beginning of vampires took place out in the open were humans could see? I think not. It's here, trust me. I've been a couple times now."

Deciding against saying anything else, I stepped out of the car in high heels feeling extremely content with myself, I could never pull these off as a human- and followed the pixie towards the door, suddenly noticing that only about twenty cars dotted the parking lot, and this was supposed to be a big event.

"You'll come to find that we're some of the most civilized vampires Bella," Alice said as if reading my mind, "Compared to others such as nomads who rarely even wear shoes. Plus this isn't the only entrance, there's about fifteen spread out all around Greece, the actual Core part doesn't begin until about fifteen sets of stairs down."

The inside of Apollo's was about as impressive as the out, black and white tiled floors, the smell of meat hung in the air, old posters of European movie stars from the 80's hung on the wall and other than an elderly woman behind the counter and the sound of feet in the room behind her, it was completely empty.

"You ladies look absolutely fabulous," she smiled at us, showing missing teeth and a piece of something black hanging between two. "Ready for tonight?"

I shot a look at Kate who looked impassive. Did this woman know who we really are?

Just then she laughed, I took a moment to notice her nametag. _Claureen._

"It's okay dear, you're new aren't you?"

Alice nodded beside her as if to say _it y._

So looking at Claureen slowly I nodded, "Yes ma'am."

"Ah, I understand why you look so worried." She frowned, "I hear the first time's really hard."

I raised an eyebrow.

"You know, at the National Vegetarians Meeting." She looked at me curiously like I was stupid, "Oh you don't know do you? That's why you all look so pale," she frowned, "If ya'll would let me put some meat on your bones maybe you'd get some color to your cheeks, but of course not."

She shook her head, "Vegetarians. I respect your decision and all-but I could never understand why someone would chose to not eat meat. I mean…" she sent a glance at a burger that looked days old a few tables away, "I could never do it. That's why I let ya'll have your meeting in my basement, so you don't have to do it in public. Strange place to have it though, if it was me-not like I'd ever quit meat… I mean… its meat!"

"Claureen," Alice smiled tightly, "We need to get going, you know, the meeting."

"Oh yes, yes dear I'm terribly sorry. I got caught away talking to your friend-I'm sorry what's your name."

"Isabella," Rosalie looked at me sharply, "Her names Isabella."

"Ah." Claureen closed her eyes and nodded, "Is she Edwards Isabella?"

From my side I heard Kate burst out with laughter.

Alice choked back her own laugh, "I'm afraid not Claureen-you know how he is,"

As soon as I opened my mouth Kate's hand clasped over my mouth, squeezing my lips shut, I was thoroughly embarrassed.

"Ah yes, so stubborn." She trailed her eyes to me, "But she's a pretty little thing, and Edwards a very attractive young man. I swear if they had men like that back in my day why I might of-"

"We get it, Claureen." Alice was obviously trying to keep from getting annoyed.

Claureen nodded slowly, eyes down to her desperately in need of a manicure nails.

"Sorry Alison, got carried away," This time it was me who had to clasp my mouth shut from laughing, "But go on ahead, you know the way."

Alice nodded, grabbing my hand and dragging me away, growling under her breath.

"It's not Alison I don't know why she insists on calling me that every single time we come here."

Rosalie chuckled behind us, "Alice she hasn't seen you in twenty years."

Alice sent a scathing look at her, "But if she would of called you Rosemarie, you wouldn't have been very happy. Or what about you, Kathleen?" She looked at Kate who suddenly didn't look as amused.

Rose glared back, "Oh hush and lead the way, unlike you. I don't take pride in being fashionably late, if I'm going to have to see Royce, I might as well give myself more time to find Emmett or I'll break the treaty,"

"Do you think he'll be here?" I asked, the thought just occurring to me. I hadn't thought of Royce since Victoria had told me what seemed forever ago.

"Oh of course he will." Rosalie snorted, anger seething out in her hiss. "He's been Aro's favorite since he was created, he always told me that when I was human _"The boss likes me the most" _or something like that, probably because all he does is kiss Aro's ass. But who knows, Royce was capable of making people believe things that weren't there, maybe that's why I fell in love with him."

Kate looked at her sympathetically, "Well if you do make a leap at his throat, warn me first. If there's going to be a fight, I want Caius's head."

"Stop!" Alice said suddenly, coming to a stop at a steep, dark staircase I hadn't noticed seconds earlier, "You know there is no fighting. The gods will kill us all!"

"Alice stop. Maybe back in the days when Carlisle and Edward were young were the Greek gods real," Kate exclaimed, "But not now. We haven't seen them in thousands of years. Its all mad stories that they say to scare us."

"Mad stories?" Alice now looked annoyed, "Just like vampires, Kate? We're myths, just as they are. If we're real, then so are they! Plus we see the remaining Queens and Kings here, so we must be respectable. I know it's been forever since Lyca came to one of these things.. and since I can't see tonight I know he's going to be here. Or at least one of the original pack!"

"Calm down Alice," Rosalie said, looking extremely bored as we began our trek down the stairs, I couldn't smell anything down there. Only cold air flew up against us making even my vampire body shiver, wherever this 'core' was, it was deep down there.

"Oh shut up, Rosalie. Lets go." And then Alice began to run (in high heels, she always managed to impress me somehow) down the stairs and in a flash she was gone.

Sighing, I hiked up my dress on both sides and followed, feeling Rosalie and Kate right on my heels. Thoughts racing in my head.

What if Kate was right? Were the Greek Gods real? Or were they just a myth created to scare ever us vampires. Had they really taken Juno as a sacrifice? I'd seen her a few weeks ago in my dream-or at least, I thought her. She had said in a way she _was_ Juno right? So who else could it be?

**Wrote quickly because I feel bad for abandoning you all.**

**But what if it **_**isn't **_**Juno? Who else could it be?**

**The ball is next. And Lord GrumpyPants and The Boy Who Cried Wolf will be making another appearance.**


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